Last night, the Sarasota City Commission voted to help fund a pilot program, Comprehensive Treatment Court, that aims to divert low-level, non-violent offenders with mental illness from the county jail and providing them with services and treatment. We first wrote about this program in March – Inweekly, “Criminal Justice System and the Mentally Ill,” March 10).
The city, Sarasota County, and three local foundations— Community Foundation of Sarasota, Gulf Coast Community Foundation and Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation— have committed funding the pilot program for three years. The City and County each will budget $442,000 over the period–one-third of the cost. The three foundations will split the remaining $442,000.
According to news reports, the city’s three-year commitment allows organizers to pursue a Florida Department of Children and Families’ Criminal Justice Mental Health Reinvestment Grant, which will require about $1.2 million in matching funds during the three-year pilot.
In Escambia County, the Escambia County Jail spends roughly $105 on each mentally ill inmate per day. If one of those persons is incarcerated for one year, the total cost equals more than $38,000.
Escambia County could pay for a Comprehensive Treatment Court if the program could divert each year 12 mentally ill inmates from year-long stays at the county jail.