DATE:
October 19, 2021
03
TO:
Board of Supervisors
SUBJECT
Title
A DATA-DRIVEN APPROACH TO PROTECTING PUBLIC SAFETY, IMPROVING AND EXPANDING REHABILITATIVE TREATMENT AND SERVICES, AND ADVANCING EQUITY THROUGH ALTERNATIVES TO INCARCERATION: BUILDING ON LESSONS LEARNED DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC (DISTRICTS: ALL)
Body
OVERVIEW
Mass incarceration disproportionately impacts the poor, homeless, mentally ill and people of color and does not make us safer. Inappropriate and ineffective incarceration of individuals who do not pose a public safety threat generates significant costs for society, taxpayers, individuals, and families - often leading to tragically preventable jail deaths and failing to keep our communities safe, while people in crisis do not get the help they need.
Statewide and locally, taxpayers spend $81,000 a year to incarcerate someone with a mental health illness versus $32,000 a year for permanent supportive housing in the community, or $3,000 to $10,000 a year for an outpatient sobering program.1
There is a clear feedback loop between interactions with the criminal justice system and substance use, mental illness, disability, poverty, structural racism, and homelessness. The evidence is overwhelming that for many offenses, there are alternatives to incarceration that are better both for keeping our communities safe and supporting and rehabilitating individuals. For example, in San Diego County, the Prosecution and Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Services (PLEADS) program has shown early initial success at sobering and rehabilitating people with substance use challenges who otherwise would have been incarcerated.
Yet we do not have the infrastructure to respond to the need and instead, our jails have been filling the gap. In San Diego County, there were 3,971 individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness on a single night in 2020.2 Many are in need of psychiatric care. Despite the demand, we have only 800 inpatient psychiat...
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