Nikki Johnson walked right into a housing unit within the Denver jail and heard a person yelling about his laundry and refusing to lock down in his cell.
Johnson, a psychologist and chief of psychological well being companies on the Denver Sheriff Division, approached the small group of deputies who gathered close to the person’s cell and requested if she may speak to the person, whom she knew. With their permission, she advised the person that she would love to speak to him if he adopted instructions to lock himself inside his cell.
The person complied and Johnson sat and listened to him vent.
“He’s upset about varied stressors occurring in his life and needs to be heard,” Johnson mentioned. “So I took the additional 10 to twenty minutes with him and listened to him — that’s actually all it took. For him to know that somebody was going to hearken to him, he was keen to adjust to the order to lock down.”
That’s precisely the type of service Johnson hopes a brand new crew of psychological well being professionals she’s hiring for the town’s two jails will be capable of present. The Denver Sheriff Division plans to rent 12 psychologists, counselors and social staff so {that a} psychological well being skilled might be accessible 24/7 to assist individuals incarcerated within the metropolis’s jails who’re experiencing psychological well being crises.
The division’s leaders hope that the brand new Disaster Response Staff will assist de-escalate disaster conditions, reduce deputies’ workloads and supply higher service to individuals within the jail. The crew members will put on polo shirts and khaki pants, not legislation enforcement uniforms.
“Deputies are educated to offer security and safety to the ability and that’s the firstly job obligation for them,” Johnson mentioned. “Psychological well being professionals are educated to be empathetic, to pay attention, to be calm, to be current. Once you convey each of these collectively we’re going to see extra success in these disaster conditions.”
Progress in psychological well being diagnoses
A big proportion of the individuals incarcerated in Denver’s two jails have psychological well being diagnoses. On Thursday, 40% of the 1,699 individuals within the two jails have been labeled as having a psychological well being want and 6% have been on suicide alert.
The psychological well being circumstances and severity differ extensively, Johnson mentioned, and may embrace schizophrenia, substance-induced psychotic dysfunction, bipolar dysfunction and character problems. Johnson hopes her crew will be capable of convey trauma-informed care to the jails, which may trigger trauma themselves.
“We are going to assume individuals have trauma and can strategy them in that method,” Johnson mentioned.
If profitable, this system will scale back fights, use-of-force incidents, assaults on employees and recidivism, Denver Sheriff Elias Diggins mentioned. Diggins additionally hopes the crew will assist individuals efficiently transition from extra restrictive housing models for individuals with extreme behavioral challenges to normal inhabitants models.
The proportion of individuals incarcerated with psychological well being circumstances has grown tremendously within the 27 years that Diggins has labored on the sheriff’s division, he mentioned. A part of that development is an enchancment in diagnosing peoples’ sicknesses and extra sources to do these evaluations, he mentioned.
“For us, success helps them whereas they’re in our custody and serving to them transition to the group as nicely,” he mentioned.
Diggins requested $1 million within the division’s 2022 funds to pay for the 12 positions allotted to this system. The funds has not but been authorised, however Diggins mentioned he’s optimistic it will likely be as a result of there’s help within the different branches of metropolis authorities.
The crew will embrace 11 psychological well being professionals — seven for the downtown jail and 4 on the county jail — and a supervisor. Johnson has began the hiring course of for among the positions and hopes to have the crew operational within the downtown jail by the tip of the yr.
As soon as employed, the crew’s members will spend their time contained in the jails attending to know the individuals incarcerated there. They are going to be primarily stationed in consumption and the housing models for individuals with extreme psychological well being wants, however can even work in different areas of the jails. They gained’t be working in workplaces and taking appointments, however will as an alternative spend their days within the housing models to allow them to develop relationships with the individuals who reside there.
“If a disaster does occur, they’ll be capable of step in, assist de-escalate the scenario, be accessible and actually have extra time on their arms than the deputies may need,” Johnson mentioned. “Lots of instances the deputies are dealing with a housing unit with 64 inmates in it by themselves. So they may not have 10 minutes to have this man vent about courtroom as a result of they’re escorting the nurse round handy out medicines or they’re delivering meals. Not that they don’t wish to try this, however they don’t all the time have that point to drop all the pieces and pay attention. Lots of instances all it takes is somebody to hearken to them and listen to them out and meet them the place they’re at in that second to forestall a scenario from occurring.”
The crew is one in all Johnson’s three main targets since becoming a member of the sheriff’s division in January. She additionally launched a competency restoration program on the county jail and plans to conduct an audit of all psychological well being companies accessible within the jail system to search for gaps and overlap.
Within the footsteps of STAR
The creation of the crew within the jail mirrors the launch of Denver’s Assist Staff Assisted Response program final yr to broad acclaim. The STAR program sends psychological well being professionals as an alternative of cops to 911 calls that contain psychological well being wants or homelessness with the aim of dealing with social issues with psychological well being professionals as an alternative of police.
The jail’s Disaster Response Staff will mirror the targets of the STAR program and a handful of jails throughout the nation have comparable applications, Diggins mentioned.
Jail and jail leaders for many years have mentioned psychological well being wants of the individuals they take care of, however the dialog actually picked up velocity over the past 5 or 10 years, mentioned Dr. David Stephens, a psychologist who focuses on psychological well being in correctional settings. Higher screening has revealed the big proportion of incarcerated individuals who have trauma, psychological sickness or mind accidents.
“Correctional officers, sheriffs and even psychological well being professionals all have a a lot larger consciousness of the presence of the mentally in poor health within the correctional methods,” he mentioned. “We want a seamless consciousness of the pervasiveness of trauma locally. Addressing these wants will scale back incarceration charges.”
Jail directors want to judge how their constructing impacts the individuals who reside there. Incessant, vivid lighting and lack of sound absorption may cause psychological well being deterioration, he mentioned. All jails additionally want to offer trauma-informed care.
However crucial approach prison justice methods might help individuals with psychological well being wants is to maintain them out of jail and jail, Stephens mentioned. Diversion applications that join individuals to therapy exterior of corrections services, like Denver’s Regulation Enforcement Assisted Diversion, and accessible group sources are essential for bettering their well being, he mentioned.
“Serving to them to keep away from them being incarcerated within the first place might be the perfect observe,” Stephens mentioned.
