Dougherty sheriff introduces Stepping Up Initiative

ALBANY — All over the country, officials say, jails are being filled at an alarming rate with mentally ill individuals who would best be served in a facility equipped to properly treat these individuals with the psychiatric care they need. Not immune from this nationwide problem is the Dougherty County Jail.

Fortunately, instead of leaving these individuals behind and forgetting about their unique needs, there is a movement to fix this problem.

The Stepping Up Initiative was founded in 2015 by the National Association of Counties, the American Psychiatric Association Foundation and The Council of State Government Justice Center to “rally local, state and national leaders to build awareness and provide counties with resources” to address the crisis of incarcerated mentally ill individuals. Dougherty County is one of the counties involved in the initiative.

“In Dougherty County, our statistics are very similar to statistics around the county,” Chief Jailer Col. John Ostrander said. “Right now, 14 percent of the inmates in this facility are under psychiatric care, 22 percent of the inmates in this facility undergo some kind of mental health counseling, and 37 percent of the inmates here are on mental health medication.”

Ostrander explained that the majority of the inmates at the Dougherty County Jail with mental health issues are there on relatively low-level charges such as substance abuse for individuals trying to self-medicate, loitering, criminal trespass or even low-level violent charges such as simple battery.

“What we need to understand is that their actions are a symptom of their disease,” Ostrander said. “They’re not necessarily criminal in their intent.”

Two years ago, a team from Dougherty County, which included Ostrander, Judge Stephen Goss, County Commission chairman Chris Cohilas, Kay Brooks and Judge Joe Bishop, went to Washington, D.C., with other county officials from two-thirds of the United States to discuss the problem of mentally ill individuals in the prison system. The purpose of the meeting was to find out what counties can do locally to address the growing problem.

Here in Albany, the Dougherty County Jail has partnered with Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital to provide health care, including mental health care and medication. The sheriff’s department has also partnered with Aspire Mental Health to provide mental health counseling at the jail. Inmates released into the “pretrial” program receive active treatment through Aspire outside of a prison environment.

Part of the initiative, other than just treatment for the individuals, is training for staff members. The training allows law enforcement to differentiate between an individual who may be mentally ill and one who is intoxicated or “just angry.” The goal is to recognize the illness at the moment of arrest and “divert them to a treatment facility,” where not only is treatment much more affordable than at a jail, but it is also more effective.

The Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office will continue to be a part of the Stepping Up Initiative until the jails are no longer a holding place for the mentally ill, Sproul said.

Gypsy Crow