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June 30, 2016
Lake County Among
Select Group to Lead
President Obama’s Data-Driven Justice Initiative
Lake County,
IL is participating in a new, bipartisan national Data-Driven Justice Initiative, launched by President Barack Obama
today. Lake County is among 67 city, county, and state governments across the
country that have been selected by the Obama Administration to join this
initiative because of our commitment to innovative solutions that reduce
incarceration and improve outcomes.
Lake County
Board Chairman Aaron Lawlor said, “We are proud to be part of this national
team that will focus on using data-driven strategies to divert low-level
offenders with mental illness out of the criminal-justice system and into
effective, community-based care. Lake County and the nation are combating a
crisis related to properly treating people with mental illness. I believe this is the greatest moral
imperative for our leaders to address.
Our jails should not be mental health hospitals. By working together, we
can not only save taxpayer resources by reducing our jail population, but also
help stabilize families and better serve our communities.”
A delegation
from Lake County, including District 13 Board Member Sandra Hart and Sheriff’s
Office Deputy Chief William Kinville visited the White House earlier this year
to share information and build on data-driven strategies that have been
successfully implemented in other jurisdictions.
Sheriff Mark
Curran said, “Sadly, many of the individuals in our jail have been there many
times before, what we refer to as ‘super-utilizers.’ They are often chronically
homeless, suffer from mental illness, substance abuse and health problems. Often,
individuals going through pre-trial proceedings stay in jail because they can’t
afford to bond out. Through this initiative, we will target these key
populations and try to divert low-risk offenders so they can get the help they
need to get well, and not return to jail.”
To join the Data-Driven Justice Initiative, Lake
County and its justice partners have committed to advance three innovative
solutions, including:
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Creating
or expanding real or near-real time local data exchanges that combine justice,
health or other system data, as appropriate and consistent with applicable
legal and privacy protections, to enable identification of multiple public system
“super-utilizers;”
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Diverting
this population, as well as people who may be committing low level crimes
primarily due to mental illness, from the criminal justice system prior to
arrest, where appropriate, and linking them to care management or other
community-based services;
- Continuing to use data-driven risk assessment tools to ensure decisions on
pre-trial release are informed by empirically validated methods of gauging
defendants’ risk to the community, not ability to pay or other extraneous
information.
Chief Judge Jorge Ortiz said, “Many of Lake
County’s efforts are designed to divert and help the mentally ill. Our court has utilized the validated
Virginia Risk Assessment Tool since 2006 and has been a leader in pre-trial
monitoring as an alternative to incarceration.
We started a Mental Health Court in 2007 and are working with the
Sheriff’s Office on Crisis Intervention Team Training. In addition, we have received funding to
hire a subject matter expert to help us plan for a future crisis drop off
center, which is vitally important because without it, many mentally ill people
may otherwise be incarcerated or taken to emergency rooms at great expense
without a continuum of care.”
- 2015 average daily population: 537
- 2016 average daily population: 567
- Today 88% (495 of 564) of the persons in the jail (presumed innocent) are awaiting trial.
- The cost to house an inmate in the jail is $120 per day.
- In 2016, the total cost for medical services at the jail is estimated at $2.97 million, which includes a medical services contract, jail medical supplies, and mental health services in the jail.
- Annually, an average of 440 psychological assessments are performed on adults involved with the Lake County criminal justice system.
- Out of 9,000 adults booked into the jail in 2014 and 2015, more than 3,000 (42%) were previously detained within the past three years.
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Additional data on Adult Arrests, Adult Courts (filings, convictions, sentences, probation), Prison Admissions and Prison Exits is available through the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority.
Costs of Highest Off-Site Medical Utilizers in Jail (Top 10 Inmates)
June 20, 2015 – April 30, 2016
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Contact: Jennie Vana
Email Address: jvana@lakecountyil.gov
Phone Number: 847-377-2154
Cell Phone Number: 847-707-9210
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