This was a confounding week for those who grapple with the many-headed hydra of Santa Barbara’s criminal justice system and the many people suffering from mental illness who are thrown in jail instead of receiving treatment. On that subject, there was some good news and some very bad news.
The encouraging news took place in front of the county supervisors this Tuesday, when two department heads presented possible solutions for diverting mentally ill prisoners from jail to facilities that can provide effective treatment. Such efforts, they said, would make the community safer, reduce recidivism rates, cut costs, address racial sentencing disparities, and be more humane. “That’s the big hypothesis,” exclaimed Supervisor Joan Hartmann.
Though both reports laid out clear and detailed road maps for achieving these ends, the plans assumed such treatment programs would be funded and have sufficient staffing available. “We must try to do something different,” exclaimed Supervisor Steve Lavagnino. “The alternative is what we’ve been doing for the past 20 to 30 years,” he said, adding, “I think we can all agree the system isn’t working.”