Mississippi program aims to connect jailed people to mental health services

[September 19, 2024]  OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — A new program in Mississippi is designed to help people who need mental health care services while they are jailed and facing felony charges.

The Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi School of Law announced Wednesday that it has a two-year collaboration with the Mississippi Department of Mental Health.

An attorney working for the MacArthur Forensic Navigator Program hotline will provide information to judges, prosecutors, sheriffs, public defenders and relatives of people in jail, said Cliff Johnson, the MacArthur Justice Center director.

“Everyone involved in our criminal legal system knows that Mississippi, like many states across the country, has for too long allowed people struggling with mental illness to remain locked up in our county jails when what they really need is access to quality mental health care,” Johnson said in a news release.

“Our hope is that this new program will bring an end to needless human suffering, take pressure off sheriffs who don’t have the training or resources to handle these situations, and make families and communities more stable," he said.

The hotline attorney, Stacy Ferraro, has represented people charged with capital offenses and juveniles sentenced to life without parole. She said people who need mental health services should not be left in jail “to spiral deeper into darkness.”

“My experience has taught me that many of the people arrested in our local communities aren’t people who knowingly disregard the law but instead are family members and neighbors who are off much-needed medications and are acting in response to fear, panic, or delusions caused by their mental illness," Ferraro said.

Attorney Cliff Johnson, director of the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center, speaks during a hearing Wednesday, May 10, 2023, in Hinds County Chancery Court in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

The medical director for the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, Dr. Thomas Recore, said the collaboration with the MacArthur Justice Center should help the department reduce waiting times to provide service for people in jails.

“By sharing a clear vision and our individual expertise, we are providing care that not only safeguards our communities but also creates lasting, positive outcomes for those at risk," Recore said.

A grant from Arnold Ventures funds the navigator program, Johnson said.

Itawamba County Sheriff Mitch Nabors said Johnson, Ferraro and Recore have already helped arrange inpatient care for a woman who was previously diagnosed with a mental illness and was charged with arson in the burning of her family's home.

“It is imperative to ensure that individuals in our correctional facility do not pose a risk to themselves or others," Nabors said.

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