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Michigan Partners In Crisis (PIC) Accomplishments, 2009 Report on PIC Major Initiatives 2009 Secure continued funding of pilot mental health courts: Partners overcame an initial executive recommendation of no FY-10 state funding. Through the federal stimulus, state funding is now assured through FY-12. Maintain corrections anti-segregation language in state budget and/or statute (adults and children): FY-09 boilerplate language on adults continued for FY-10. Children’s boilerplate language was added for FY-10 (though the Legislature inadvertently used an adult definition for children). Educate the public and policy-makers on mental health issues and justice systems: Implemented on an ongoing basis as resources permitted. Improve administration and streamlining of corrections mental health program: No concrete PIC action/results. Secure continued state funding for Corrections Ombudsman: Accomplished. Establish diversion principles for adults and children at risk of incarceration or detention due to psychiatric disorders: As first step, formally surveyed PIC Advisory Board on key questions and issues related to this subject. Develop recommended standards for mental health court operations: Established an ad hoc committee which met twice in 2009. The Committee recommends PIC focus on “emerging trends/models” (as opposed to “standards”) and is proceeding on that basis. Maintain language in state budget and/or statute for suspension (rather than termination) of Medicaid for those incarcerated or detained: Relevant FY-09 DOC and DCH boilerplate sections continued for FY-10. Obtain funding for and/or renew legislative requirement for study of prevalence, need and treatment levels in local jails: Legislative requirement renewed for FY-10. DOC has publicly stated it will arrange for at least three county jails to be studied in 2010.{NOTE: Similar study of state prison system, stimulated by PIC and conducted by U-M, was released in April 2010.} Obtain legislative and/or executive acceptance of juvenile justice study on emotional disorder prevalence, needs and treatment: Procured permissive language for this in Senate version of FY-10 DHS budget, but this language did not remain in final FY-10 DHS appropriations act. Ban incarceration in state prison of youth with serious emotional disorders as defined in the Michigan Mental Health Code: Section 927 of final FY-10 DOC appropriations act reads: “It is the intent of the legislature that the department of corrections and the department of human services examine the potential of entering into an intergovernmental agreement to place offenders less than 19 years of age who are committed to the department of corrections in underutilized units of the W.J. Maxey training school. The facilities shall be used to house offenders less than 19 years of age who are currently committed to the department of corrections.” |
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Michigan Partners In Crisis (PIC) Accomplishments, 2008 Pilot Mental Health Courts: In late 2007, PIC provided legislators and the executive branch with data supporting the need for and potential efficacy of mental health courts in Michigan. The Governor’s executive budget for FY-09 subsequently proposed $3.4 million for pilot mental health court. Final budget acts for Judiciary and Community Health contained a total of $1.7 million for pilot courts. This was done without reducing the CMH non-Medicaid treatment line in the Community Health budget, something we feared and spoke against. Nine communities across Michigan made application for and will receive pilot mental health court funding through September. PIC has been appointed to a special state advisory board for this effort. Reducing Solitary Confinement of State Prison Inmates with Mental Illness: The FY-09 Corrections budget act contains language to curtail the use of administrative segregation (solitary confinement) as a punishment for perceived misbehavior of state prisoners with mental illness. The budget act also calls for a report on the use of this practice over the previous five years. Suspension-Only of Pre-Existing Medicaid for Incarcerated/Detained Individuals: The FY-09 Community Health budget act follows the recommendation of the federal government in establishing unequivocal state policy that the pre-existing Medicaid status of an individual who becomes incarcerated or detained (during which Medicaid regulations do not allow reimbursement of on-site health care) is suspended rather than terminated. This will help ensure that Medicaid coverage resumes more quickly for individuals returning to the community. Also helpful is language in the FY-09 Corrections budget act requiring the Departments of Human Services and Corrections to improve collaboration and information-sharing regarding the Medicaid eligibility and status of individuals in state prisons. Mental Illness Prevalence, Treatment Needs and Treatment Levels in the Justice System: The FY-09 Corrections budget act requires that a university be contracted to determine mental illness prevalence, treatment needs and treatment levels in Michigan county jails. Thanks to PIC, a similar study for state prisons was already required by the Legislature in FY-08 Corrections budget law and is now under way, with U-M leading the study. (PIC has been appointed to a special state advisory body for this project.) We were unsuccessful for FY-09 in procuring the same type of requirement for juvenile justice facilities under the jurisdiction of the Department of Human Services. Reestablishment of the Corrections Ombudsman Office: We proposed re-funding of this important office, closed several years ago in a budget move, and the FY-09 General Government budget approved $370,000 for its operation. Other Liaison: PIC served on a special DOC-DCH task force to review and make recommendations for the state’s Corrections mental health program. That report was released in early 2009. PIC also worked with the state’s special Child Welfare Improvement Task Force. |
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This page last revised August 5, 2010 |
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Michigan Partners in Crisis is a project of the Mental Health Association in Michigan and the |
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