More on Healthcare for the Homeless-Houston

Here's more information on the pilot program designed by Healthcare for the Homeless-Houston, which aims to provide services to those inmates with severe mental illness immediately upon their release from the Harris County Jail.


From KUHF-Houston Public Radio News:


Health Care For Former Inmates Saves Harris County Money
2 June 2008
By: Capella Tucker

The Harris County Jail system is said to have one of the best mental health programs. But those services stop once inmates are released. Too often those inmates repeat the same patterns that get them right back jail. Capella Tucker reports on a program that looks to literally walk inmates from the jail doors to clinic doors to stop the cycle of re-incarceration.

Click here to listen or read the transcript below.

"Hi, this is George Bement with Healthcare for the Homeless Houston. I've arranged a special release this morning for Rhanda Gillespy. Okay, I'll be there in about five minutes, thank you."

It's 8 o'clock Saturday morning. Bement walks four blocks to the Harris County Jail.

Rhanda Gillespie has been in and out of the Harris County jails since the mid-1990's.

She's served time for theft, delivery of controlled substances and prostitution. And Gillespy suffers from mental illness. She knows most people expect her to wind up back in jail.

"In fact one of the jailers told me, the lady I worked for, she told me, she says we'll have a job waiting for you when you get back, I said hopefully I find one with better pay."

First Gillespy has to get her feet on the ground, that includes walking back to the clinic with Bement for a doctor's appointment.

"The severely mentally ill people generally are treated in the jail and in fact the jail has a very good mental health unit, but then once they get out there's no linkage of services. Once they are out the door the Harris county sheriff's department no longer has responsibility for their care so they are basically on their own."

Every other time Gillespy has been released it's been at 12:01 a.m., which is the traditional time when inmates are freed.

"The people most unable to be productive in our society are left to fend where I certainly couldn't figure out how to get from jail and before my blood levels of my anti-psychotic are gone get that new medicine. There isn't a place to do it except for clogging the Er's."

Or winding up back in jail. Doctor David Buck founded the Healthcare for the Homeless Houston. The group hopes to make a difference for Gillespy and others like her so they won't wind up behind bars again.

In a pilot project, Buck has found that the level of recidivism drops when inmates are directly connected with services upon being released. He's been following two hundred forty-five patients for the past year.

"When we looked at a comparable group from 2004 and looked at our group, the re-arrest rates from 2004 were sixty percent. The re-arrest of this group from last year was 30 percent."

Buck says that saves Harris County money. Commissioners are expected to vote tomorrow on whether they'll fund the continuation of the program which costs about one hundred thousand dollars a year.

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Thanks to Cherie Wyatt, with HHH for sharing this with me.

Pilot Crisis Intervention Project in Houston

According to the Houston Chronicle, ("Mental health experts, HPD team up to help patients," May 13, 2008), the Houston Police Department has developed a new pilot program aimed at defusing crisis situations involving people with mental illness.

Here's the article:

"Mental health professionals are riding alongside Houston police in a six-month pilot program designed to help defuse crisis situations involving unstable people, officials said.

The program, which began this month, pairs an HPD officer with a licensed mental health case worker to form a Crisis Intervention Response Team, officials said.

'The CIRT program is the only one of its kind in the state of Texas,' HPD Chief Harold Hurtt said Wednesday.

HPD officials said two officers are assigned full-time to the program while a second pair are working on a part-time basis. The officers are certified in crisis intervention.

Unlike other CIT-trained officers, those in the CIRT program will respond solely to scenes involving possible mental health issues, officials said.

'You actually have the opportunity to do follow-ups because I'm not hampered by other calls for service,' said Eric Chimney, one of the HPD officers assigned to the pilot program.

The department has about 1,000 CIT-trained officers — with about 800 assigned to patrol units. They will remain the first line of response for the 1,200 to 1,500 mental health crisis calls received each month, officials said.

With a mental health worker at their side, the officer will have immediate access to critical information, such as medical background.

'Officers don't have that type of access, but working together, we do now,' said HPD Lt. Michael Lee, supervisor of the department's crisis intervention teams.

The clinicians, who work for the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority, will help after HPD officers secure the scene, officials said."

NAMIWalks for the Mind of America

This past Saturday, May 3, 2008, more than 20 members of the Houston chapter of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty participated in the Houston NAMIWalks for the Mind of America, an annual awareness-raising program of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Launched in 2003 with 12 pilot sites, the NAMIWalks Program has grown to include over 75 sites in 42 states. Proceeds from the walks help to fund NAMI's education and advocacy activities.

Many thanks to everyone in Houston who raised money for NAMI and participated in the Walk!

Lean more about NAMIWalks in your community.

"The Prison Show"

Last week while in Houston, I had the privilege of appearing on Ray Hill's "The Prison Show", which has been broadcast on Houston Pacifica radio station KPFT 90.1 FM weekly since March 1980. Here's a description of the program:


"During the first hour of the program, Ray and the gang, and occasionally a special guest, discuss related current issues and review the week's mailbag. In the second hour, we receive calls from the listeners that make the show so special, as they connect to talk to their family members, friends and loved ones within the Texas prisons, and somehow form together to become one large family through their common experience. Texas does not permit inmates to have access to telephones or the web. So for many, 'The Prison Show' is the only way an inmate can hear the voice of his friends and relatives between the rare visits."


Ray and I discussed various issues related to mental illness and the death penalty. You can listen to the broadcast by visiting http://www.theprisonshow.org/ - under "Miss a Show?" click on March 14. Those outside the Houston listening area can tune in to the show every Friday night at 9:00 PM CST by streaming from your computer.


Thanks so much to Ray and the gang for hosting me!

Upcoming Presentations in Houston

This Thursday, March 13, 2008, at 6:00 PM, I will speak on the topic of “Prevention, Not Punishment: Prohibiting the Death Penalty for Offenders with Severe Mental Illness” at the Montrose Library, 4100 Montrose, Houston, Texas. Contact Nancy Bailey at 281-933-4925 for more information. This event is sponsored by the Houston Chapter of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

I also will serve as a guest speaker on Sunday, March 16, 2008 at 11:00 AM at the Unitarian Fellowship in Houston, 1504 Wirt Rd, Houston, Texas. That presentation is entitled “Executing the Mentally Ill: ‘Is This the Best Our Society Can Do?’” Contact Sarah Berel-Harrop at sbh930@sbcglobal.net for details.

If you would like to schedule a presentation with your group or discuss other ideas for activities/programs on this issue, please contact me at khouletx@gmail.com or 512-441-1808.

New mental health program in Harris County jail

KHOU.com reports on a new program in the Harris County jail that will address the needs of inmates with mental illness.

"On any given day there are 9,000 inmates there. About 20 percent of them have a history of mental illness.

The jail has now formed a new mental health unit make up of 61 specially trained officers. The jail has also spent about $1 million converting 4 cell blocks into mental health housing. Inmates will be screened during intake instead of being placed immediately in the general population."

Read more about what experts are deeming a "revolutionary program."

The history of HPD crisis team and why city needs it

That's the title of an op-ed that appeared this past Sunday in the Houston Chronicle by Betsy Schwartz and Steven Schnee. Schwartz is the president and CEO of the Mental Health Association of Greater Houston. Schnee is executive director of the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County.

Here is an excerpt:

"There has been much discussion recently about the Houston Police Department's Crisis Intervention Team (CIT). As individuals who were involved in the establishment of CIT, we want to ensure people understand why it was originally created and how it serves our community.

Unfortunately, there are not enough mental health services in the community to meet the needs of individuals with mental illness. Until the resources are available to significantly build that capacity, law enforcement will continue to have frequent encounters with people experiencing psychiatric crises."

Read the entire op-ed at www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/5213369.html.

Editorial on Crisis Intervention Training for Houston Police

Here's an editorial that appeared October 9, 2007 in the Houston Chronicle, with regard to training the Houston police force how to deal effectively with people with mental illness:

"In the past year Houston officers have fatally shot four mentally ill people during confrontations. The rash of incidents indicates officers need much more tactical and sensitivity training in order to subdue irrational suspects while preventing unnecessary loss of life.

The Metropolitan Organization, a network of community activists, called on Mayor Bill White to institute an incentive pay program to coax officers into training as crisis intervention specialists. While the request is well-intentioned, the department is short of officers and money. Police officers should not need to be lured by more dollars to learn how to do their job and protect life.

In recent years HPD salaries have been substantially boosted. There is no need for an incentive program for police officers who already have a testing system for promotions to higher paying ranks.

As Mayor White pointed out, every HPD officer graduating from a cadet class should be an expert in dealing with the mentally ill. Unfortunately, of the nearly 4,900 officers on the force, only about 700 have had the required training. For all those in positions where they might encounter deranged suspects or supervise such situations, crisis training should be a priority.

Betsy Schwartz, head of the Mental Health Association for Greater Houston, said some officers are temperamentally unsuited for a job that requires them to control a scene without force. They should be screened out, and only properly trained officers should be sent on calls involving the mentally ill. That policy seems only reasonable, but it should not require incentive pay to implement.

State legislation already exists requiring veteran police officers to take 16 hours of training by 2009 in how to deal with mentally ill persons without resorting to violence. Yet less than 25 percent of HPD officers have taken the course two years after the Bob Meadours Act became law. The bill mandates that veteran officers must have completed the training by September 2009.

Although HPD initiated crisis training in 1999, officers have shot at least 15 mentally ill people since then. In only one of those incidents had the officer involved gone through intervention training — this despite the fact that HPD claims to have the largest officer training program for mental health in the nation. Just last month, one of HPD's trainers was in Alabama giving such instruction to the Mobile County Sheriff's Department.

It's admirable to assist other law enforcement agencies, but it would be more desirable if all appropriate Houston officers went through the program before it was marketed elsewhere. Mayor White should instruct Chief Harold Hurtt to comply with the law and make sure veteran officers receive the same crisis training that is taught to incoming cadets."

Learn more about Crisis Intervention Training from the NAMI website.

Forum Criticizes Houston Police Dept.'s Mental Health Response

http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5032429.htmlTuesday, Aug. 7, 2007

Quanell X forum criticizes HPD mental health response
By DALE LEZON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Quanell X held a town hall meeting Monday in southeast Houston, hoping to call attention to mental health issues as he criticized the Houston Police Department's recent efforts to defuse crisis situations involving unstablepeople.

At least three people have been killed by HPD officers in the past several months, including last week's shooting death of Reginald Sumbler, 21. Sumbler, who called authorities July 31 and told them he planned to commit suicide, died during a standoff near his home in south Houston. HPD officials said the officers fired only after Sumbler pointed a pistol at them and shot in their direction.

"Is it safe to call HPD when you have mentally ill loved ones?" Quanell asked a crowd of about 100 at the New Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church at 12707 Cullen.A panel of mental-health professionals, lawyers and the families of people recently killed by HPD officers during confrontations answered questions about handling mentally unstable relatives. "It's a big responsibility for the family," Joseph L. Jefferson, a psychotherapist, said. "Make sure he takes his medications."

The forum also covered the process for HPD dispatchers to route emergency calls about mentally unstable people. Calls should be routed so police officers dispatched are trained to peacefully defuse the confrontations, Quanell X said.HPD Capt. Bruce Williams said about 500 officers are trained by the Crisis Intervention Team to respond to mentally ill suspects. He said HPD would liketo send a CIT-trained officers for all mentally ill suspects but does not have the manpower. dale.lezon@chron.com
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Learn more about the Crisis Intervention Team Model, which was pioneered by the Memphis Police Department in 1988 and has since been adopted in hundreds of communities around the United States.