Santa Barbara Supervisors Approve $5.7M Proposal for Jail-Based Competency Treatment

Department of State Hospitals to Provide Program Within County Jail That Aids in Treatment of Inmates Incompetent to Stand Trial

An inmate is sick in the Santa Barbara Main Jail, seen here during a 2018 tour. | Credit: Courtesy

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to accept $5.7 million in state money to fund jail-based treatments for inmates who are incompetent to stand trial due to mental illness.

The county’s agreement with the California Department of State Hospitals (DSH) and California Health and Recovery Solutions (CHRS) will allow DSH to provide a jail-based competency treatment program in the county’s Main Jail for inmates with serious mental illnesses. As part of the agreement, CHRS (a subsidiary of jail health-care provider Wellpath) will provide mental-health professionals and administrative support for the program.

Accused of felony crimes, individuals with severe mental illnesses are often unable to understand the charges against them or assist their counsel in their defense. Courts often determine that such individuals are incompetent to stand trial (IST), ordering them to state psychiatric hospitals for treatment.

Such a process, notes the DSH, is cycling individuals — a majority of which are experiencing homelessness at the time of their arrest — in and out of the criminal justice system, citing that nearly half of IST cases have had more than 15 prior arrests. Moreover, the waiting list for spaces in state institutions is frequently longer than the sentences IST inmates would receive if they were tried and found guilty.

Data pulled from DSH shows that under the previous model of sending IST inmates to state hospitals, approximately 71 percent of inmates have behavioral relapses within the years after their discharge. “Building more state hospital beds will only exacerbate the problem,” claimed a release by the DHS. Such realities reinforce the notion that IST restoration alone is not an adequate long-term treatment plan, according to California Health and Recovery Solutions.

Jail-based competency treatment seeks to break this cycle and get IST inmates more robust treatment sooner. The funding approved by the supervisors on Tuesday will be used to help incorporate care-coordination, stabilization services, and reevaluation systems into the jail itself, providing every patient with a team led by a psychologist. The duration of the agreement is set to span until June 2027.