BP BHEAD INT S [atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to supervision of mentally ill offenders; adding a new section to chapter 71.24 RCW; creating new sections; and making an appropriation.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) Many acute and chronically mentally ill offenders are delayed in their release from Washington correctional facilities due to their inability to access reasonable treatment and living accommodations prior to the maximum expiration of their sentences. Often the offender reaches the end of his or her sentence and is released without any follow-up care, funds, or housing. These delays are costly to the state, often lead to psychiatric relapse, and result in unnecessary risk to the public.

These offenders rarely possess the skills or emotional stability to maintain employment or even complete applications to receive entitlement funding. Nation-wide only five percent of diagnosed schizophrenics are able to maintain part-time or full-time employment. Housing and appropriate treatment are difficult to obtain.

This lack of resources, funding, treatment, and housing creates additional stress for the mentally ill offender, impairing self-control and judgment. When the mental illness is instrumental in the offender's patterns of crime, such stresses may lead to a worsening of his or her illness, reoffending, and a threat to public safety.

(2) It is the intent of the legislature to create a pilot program to provide for postrelease mental health care and housing for a select group of mentally ill offenders entering community living, in order to reduce incarceration costs, increase public safety, and enhance the offender's quality of life.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 71.24 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The secretary shall assure that a selected county community health program provides specialized access and services to up to twenty-five mentally ill offenders upon release from total confinement within the department of corrections who have been identified by the department of corrections as high-priority clients for services and meet service program entrance criteria.

(2) Criteria shall include a determination by department of corrections staff that:

(a) The offender needs continued mental health treatment;

(b) The offender's previous crime or crimes has been determined by either the court or department of corrections staff to have been substantially influenced by their mental illness;

(c) It is believed the offender will be less likely to commit further criminal acts if provided ongoing mental health care;

(d) The offender is unable or unlikely to obtain housing and/or treatment from other sources for any other reason;

(e) The offender is within six months of release to community housing and currently housed within a work release facility or any department of corrections' division of prisons facility; and

(f) The offender is willing to cooperate with such services or, with active outreach and encouragement, may be induced to accept such services.

(3) Specialized access and services shall be provided to the highest risk offenders in this group by mental health centers. These services include those aimed at lowering the risk of recidivism. Such services require that the department and the department of corrections jointly develop, and the department implement, service contracts with mental health centers through the regional support network. The following services shall be provided:

(a) Intensive case management to include a full range of intensive community support and treatment in client-to-staff ratios of not more than ten offenders per case manager including: (i) A minimum of weekly group and individual counseling; (ii) home visits by the program manager at least one time per month; and (iii) counseling focusing on past, current, or future behavior of the offender.

(b) The program manager shall locate and procure housing appropriate to the living and clinical needs of the offender and as needed to maintain the psychiatric stability of the offender. The entire range of emergency, transitional, and permanent housing and involuntary hospitalization must be considered as available housing options. A housing subsidy may be provided to offenders to defray housing costs up to a maximum of six thousand six hundred dollars per offender and be administered by the program manager. Additional funding sources may be used to offset these costs when available.

(c) The program manager shall collaborate with the assigned prisons, work release, or community corrections staff during release planning, prior to discharge, and in ongoing supervision of the offender if remaining under department of corrections' authority.

(d) Medications including the full range of psychotropic medications including atypical antipsychotic medications may be required as a condition of the program. Medication prescription, medication monitoring, and counseling to support offender understanding, acceptance, and compliance with prescribed medication regimens must be included.

(e) A systematic effort to engage offenders to continuously involve themselves in current and long-term treatment and appropriate habilitative activities shall be made.

(f) Classes appropriate to the clinical and living needs of the offender and appropriate to his or her level of understanding.

(g) The program manager shall assist the offender in the application and qualification for entitlement funding to include Medicaid, state assistance, and other available government and private assistance at any point that the offender is qualified and resources are available.

(h) The offender shall be provided access to daily activities such as drop-in centers, prevocational and vocational training and jobs, volunteer activities, and day treatment.

(4) Specialized training in the management and supervision of high-crime risk mentally ill offenders shall be provided to all participating mental health providers by the department and the department of corrections prior to their participation in the program and as requested thereafter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The pilot program provided for in section 2 of this act shall be providing services by July 1, 1998.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. The department of social and health services, in collaboration with the department of corrections and the regional support network, shall track outcomes and submit to the legislature a report of services and outcomes by December 1, 1998, and annually thereafter. The reports shall describe the effectiveness of the services in preventing subsequent reoffending and reinstitutionalization by enrollees and include a quantitative description of services provided. It shall further include recommendations for any needed modifications in these services to increase effectiveness.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. The sum of five hundred thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1999, from the general fund to the department of social and health services for the purposes of this act.