Collaborative effort clears path from jail to mental health treatment

A statewide program launched this month wants to help people with mental illness facing felony charges get out of jail and into treatment. 

The forensic navigator program is a grant-funded collaboration between the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi School of Law and the Department of Mental Health. 

It’s hotline that is a resource for family members and those in the criminal legal system. When they call, they can talk with an attorney who serves as a bridge among the courts, law enforcement and DMH to arrange mental health treatment. 

“These people who are in acute crises are in our jails and experiencing intense suffering,” said Cliff Johnson, director of the MacArthur Justice Center. “That makes the need to get to them quickly so critical and helps explain why sometimes those people can behave unpredictably.” 

A goal of the navigator program is to help reduce the wait time for forensic evaluations at the State Hospital. Evaluations help determine if a person is competent and able to understand the charges against them and they are able to help with their legal defense. 

If someone is found not to be competent, DMH treats them at the State Hospital to restore them to a point where they can stand trial. Some stay in jail for months or years until they can be admitted for competency restoration. 

DMH has 65 forensic beds and has plans to open additional beds in a new building, which would increase capacity to over 100 beds. 

Dr. Thomas Recore, the department’s medical director, has served as head of forensic mental evaluations and has performed evaluations. 

For some with mental health needs facing lower felony charges like property damage or malicious mischief, it may be more helpful for that person to get out of jail to receive treatment, which can help them avoid future interactions with law enforcement while they are in crisis, he said. 

“We all know this is the right thing to do,” Recore said about the forensic navigator program.  

Stacy Ferraro, a Mississippi attorney who has represented those charged with capital offenses and juveniles sentenced to life without parole, will be the one on the other end of the phone line when people call the navigator. 

Johnson said Ferraro will work with families, DMH, attorneys, law enforcement and other players and act as “a person looking at the whole chessboard.” 

Even if everyone agrees someone doesn’t need to be in jail, there might be limitations that mean they aren’t able to get help, Johnson said. That could mean a bed isn’t available or a private facility can’t admit someone with a pending felony charge. 

The navigator program has already helped a north Mississippi family whose adult daughter faced an arson charge for setting her family’s home on fire during a mental health episode. 

Itawamba County Sheriff Mitch Nabors recognized the woman needed mental health care, but he knew the sheriff’s office couldn’t provide it. That’s when Johnson called, and Ferraro began speaking with the woman’s mother, Erica Hoskins, lawyers and officials from DMH. 

Within days, arrangements were made for the woman to leave jail and receive inpatient treatment. Through Ferraro’s work and conversations with attorneys, the woman’s case was remanded, Johnson said. 

The navigator program is the years-long cumulation of work between the department and MacArthur Justice Center. At one point, Johnson and attorney Paloma Wu, who was then with the Southern Poverty Law Center, wanted to sue DMH, but they saw an opportunity to try something different. 

A meeting at the State Hospital brought together people from all areas of the criminal justice system, department leaders, civil rights activists and others to agree there was a problem and they all have a role to play to reduce needless suffering. 

MacArthur Justice Center reserves the right to sue the department, which officials understand. 

Johnson said the collaboration is just the beginning and there is still room for progress and to address wait times for forensic beds and competency restoration treatment. 

He hopes those in power will shift responsibilities from sheriffs holding people with mental illness in jails and to those with the proper clinical experience and training, which he said can keep people safe and make communities safer. 

The MacArthur Forensic Navigator Program can be contacted by email at [email protected] or by phone at 662-715-2907