Access to Justice Initiatives...
Project: Justice for People with Mental Illness
Justice for People with Mental Illness in Georgia
A Report on Conversations with Leaders in the Field
The latest Georgia Appleseed report, prepared with the pro bono assistance of King & Spalding, prompted this response that was delivered to lead pro bono attorney Diane M. Janulis:
“I am a parent of an adult child that has bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder. For years my wife and I have voiced our concern with the lack of mental health care in Georgia and the rest of our country. We haven't given up, and we won't because of efforts like yours and your fellow attorneys at King and Spalding. I read through the report [Justice For People With Mental Illness: A Report on Conversations with Leaders in the Field: June 26, 2007] and applaud the findings. They are succinct and simply make a lot of sense. I will pass it along to members of NAMI . . . for them to refer to as they speak to influential leaders in our community.”
A concerned parent of an adult child with mental illness - July 2, 2007
Over the course of a year, between 2.5 and 3.5 million people will experience homelessness in this country. Of these individuals, it is estimated that one-third are affected by serious mental illness. On the streets or in shelters, the homeless might commit often relatively minor violations, trespassing, public urination, etc. and are sent to jail.
The U.S. Department of Justice reports that about 16 percent of the population in prisons or jails at any given time has a mental illness. Sadly, individuals with serious mental illness are, more often than not, released from jail without any treatment plan, thus perpetuating the cycle that initially resulted in their incarceration.
Appleseed has investigated the most promising strategies to reverse the effective criminalization of mental illness. Housing and more comprehensive mental health programs are critical pieces of the puzzle, but require funding commitments that will be hard to secure. We have focused on two more immediate strategies: (1) ensuring effective legal representation and adjudication to divert people with mental illness from entering the criminal justice system in the first place, and (2) smoothing reentry to society in order to avoid repeating a cycle of incarceration.
As a first step in Georgia, Georgia Appleseed will participate as a member of the [Georgia Supreme Court] Chief Justice’s Task Force to Promote Criminal Justice and Mental Health Collaboration. Through the pro bono efforts of approximately 15 attorneys from King & Spalding, more than 30 stakeholders around mental health and criminal justice issues have already been interviewed as a part of the Georgia Appleseed Justice for People with Mental Illness project. The resulting findings and recommendations will be submitted to the Chief Justice and her Task Force for their consideration as a jumping off point for systemic change in this troubled area of the adult justice system.
