AN
ACT Relating to supervision of mentally ill offenders; adding new sections to
chapter 71.24 RCW; and creating new sections.
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 select and contract with a regional support network or
private provider to provide specialized access and services to mentally ill
offenders upon release from total confinement within the department of
corrections who have been identified by the department of corrections and
selected by the regional support network or private provider as high-priority
clients for services and who meet service program entrance criteria. The
program shall enroll no more than twenty-five offenders at any one time, or a
number of offenders that can be accommodated within the appropriated funding
level, and shall seek to fill any vacancies that occur.
(2)
Criteria shall include a determination by department of corrections staff that:
(a)
The offender suffers from a major mental illness and needs continued mental
health treatment;
(b)
The offender's previous crime or crimes have been determined by either the
court or department of corrections staff to have been substantially influenced
by the offender's 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 reason; and
(e)
The offender has at least one year remaining before his or her sentence expires
but is within six months of release to community housing and is currently
housed within a work release facility or any department of corrections'
division of prisons facility.
(3)
The regional support network or private provider shall provide specialized
access and services to the selected offenders. The services shall be aimed at
lowering the risk of recidivism. An oversight committee composed of a
representative of the department, a representative of the selected regional
support network or private provider, and a representative of the department of
corrections shall develop policies to guide the pilot program, provide dispute
resolution including making determinations as to when entrance criteria or
required services may be waived in individual cases, advise the department of
corrections and the regional support network or private provider on the
selection of eligible offenders, and set minimum requirements for service
contracts. The selected regional support network or private provider shall
implement the policies and service contracts. 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 weekly
individual counseling; (ii) home visits by the program manager at least two times
per month; and (iii) counseling focusing on relapse prevention and past,
current, or future behavior of the offender.
(b)
The case manager shall attempt to 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 per year and be administered by the case manager.
Additional funding sources may be used to offset these costs when available.
(c)
The case manager shall collaborate with the assigned prison, work release, or
community corrections staff during release planning, prior to discharge, and in
ongoing supervision of the offender while under the authority of the
department of corrections.
(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 case manager shall assist the offender in the application and qualification
for entitlement funding, including 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, and volunteer
activities.
(4)
Once an offender has been selected into the pilot program, the offender shall
remain in the program until the end of his or her sentence or unless the
offender is released from the pilot program earlier by the department of
corrections.
(5)
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.
(6)
The pilot program provided for in this section must be providing services by
July 1, 1998.
*NEW
SECTION. Sec. 3.
The department shall indemnify and hold harmless
the regional support network, private provider, and any mental health center,
housing facility, or other mental health provider from all claims or suits
arising in any manner from any acts committed by an enrolled offender during
his or her period of enrollment.
*Sec. 3 was vetoed. See message at end of chapter.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 4. A
new section is added to chapter 71.24 RCW to read as follows:
The
department, in collaboration with the department of corrections and the
oversight committee created in section 2 of this act, shall track outcomes and
submit to the legislature a report of services and outcomes by December 1,
1998, and annually thereafter as may be necessary. The reports shall include
the following: (1) A statistical analysis regarding the reoffense and
reinstitutionalization rate by the enrollees in the program set forth in
section 2 of this act; (2) a quantitative description of the services provided
in the program set forth in section 2 of this act; and (3) recommendations for
any needed modifications in the services and funding levels to increase the
effectiveness of the program set forth in section 2 of this act. By December
1, 2003, the department shall certify the reoffense rate for enrollees in the
program authorized by section 2 of this act to the office of financial
management and the appropriate legislative committees. If the reoffense rate
exceeds fifteen percent, the authorization for the department to conduct the
program under section 2 of this act is terminated on January 1, 2004.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 5. If
specific funding for the purposes of this act, referencing this act by bill or
chapter number, is not provided by June 30, 1997, in the omnibus appropriations
act, this act is null and void.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 6. If
any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is
held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to
other persons or circumstances is not affected.
Note:
Governor's explanation of partial veto is as follows:
"I
am returning herewith, without my approval as to section 3, Second Substitute
Senate Bill No. 6002 entitled:
"AN ACT Relating to supervision of mentally ill
offenders;"
This legislation
establishes a pilot program to provide specialized access and follow up care to
mentally ill offenders after they are released from confinement. Under this
program, the offenders will get help finding employment, housing and treatment
services. I believe this type of program will serve the public well by
insuring that mentally ill offenders get the help they need to successfully
reintegrate into the community.
Section 3 would require
that the state "shall indemnify and hold harmless the regional support
network, private provider, and any mental health provider, housing facility or
other mental health provider from all claims or suits arising in any manner
from acts committed by an enrolled offender during his or her period of
enrollment." As drafted, section 3 would expose the state to an undue
risk of liability. To address concerns that program enrollees may present
special liability risks for service providers, the Department of Social and
Health Services shall consider all reasonable and appropriate means to help
limit service provider exposure to liability.
For this reason, I have
vetoed section 3 of Second Substitute Senate Bill No. 6002.
With
the exception of section 3, I am approving Second Substitute Senate Bill No.
6002."
