Santa Barbara County Grand Jury • 2022-2023 • Agency Response
Response to: A Vicious Cycle – Incarceration of the Severely Mentally Ill

County Santa Barbara Bill Brown Stations Sheriff - Coroner Buellton Headquarters*

Published: September 13, 2023 5 pages
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Findings and Recommendations 1 findings

F1
Although the Sheriff's Office hired a statistician in July 2022 to compile information about inmates suffering from mental health conditions, as of the date of this Report, the Jury was not provided with any information regarding the number of inmates who have substance abuse and/or mental health disorders or illnesses. Sheriff's Office Response: Disagree partially with an explanation. Although the Sheriff's Office previously had a jail statistician on staff, that position was cut due to the County's budgetary shortfall, subsequent to the Great Recession. The Sheriff's Office did not hire "a statistician in July 2022 to compile information about inmates suffering from mental health conditions," as is stated in the Grand Jury report. The Sheriff's Office did hire a Data Unit Supervisor and created a Data Unit in July 2022. That team's primary duties are to gather, analyze, and report on data from current Sheriff's Office systems, none of which track the number of inmates who have substance abuse disorders or mental illnesses. The Jury, in its finding, would have the reader believe that the sole purpose of the Data Unit is to "compile information about inmates suffering from mental health conditions," which is an inaccurate statement and not currently possible.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
That the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office compile and report monthly to the County and the public the number of inmates who have substance abuse, mild to moderate mental health disorders or serious mental illness. <b>Sheriff's Office Response:</b> Requires further analysis. For some time, the Sheriff's Office and various county agencies have been actively engaged in discussions regarding the sharing and integrating of data related to common clients and their resource utilization. Over the past few years, numerous efforts have been made to enhance efficiency and foster collaboration. One of the top priorities within this ongoing process has been identifying individuals with serious mental illnesses. Nevertheless, this is difficult to achieve and an issue that demands substantial labor. It is essential to acknowledge that achieving significant progress in delivering reportable data within the timeframes recommended by the Grand Jury poses a formidable challenge. Identifying inmates with mental illnesses is easier said than done, as it is an inherently complex process and lacks a definitive litmus test. While we are committed to progressing, reaching our goals will take time. It's crucial to note that relying solely on the number of inmates receiving psychotropic medications within our custody facility is not a comprehensive method of identifying those who suffer from mental illness. This approach is not all-encompassing, as it includes medications such as sleep aids, which do not necessarily indicate the presence of a mental illness. As mentioned in other contemporaneous responses to the Grand Jury reports, we are negotiating with WellPath to determine a path forward to receiving medical and mental health information which will more accurately identify those inmates with mental illness.

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.