Diversion Works - The Connecticut Study

This report was just released click on the bottom to read the whole report

It is time for Connecticut officials to renew their efforts to reduce the size of the
state’s exploding prison population. Connecticut’s prison system continues to take in
thousands of nonviolent offenders with mental health and/or substance abuse
problems who would fare much better in alternative settings that draw on
community resources. Two-thirds of Connecticut’s prisoners have serious addiction
problems and the number of prisoners with moderate to severe mental health
impairment has risen by four percent in the last fi ve years.
After leading the nation in prison population reduction in 2003, Connecticut’s prison
population reached record high levels this year, with more than 19,800 men and
women behind bars. A recent prison population forecast by the Connecticut
Statistical Analysis Center indicates that, unless measures are quickly taken to bring
prison population levels back under control, taxpayers are likely to be burdened with
excessive and rising costs to pay for capacity expansion.
State offi cials are struggling to avoid costly prison expansion. In the process,
policymakers are starting to address the need for full-scale community interventions
for offenders experiencing mild to severe mental health problems. National studies
peg the proportion of mentally ill prisoners at 10-20 percent. As Connecticut’s prison
population inches closer to the historic 20,000 mark, strategies for lowering the
prison population and strengthening treatment services in the community are looking
more attractive.
A new consensus is emerging that community-based treatment options for mental
illness, substance abuse problems and co-occurrence are more likely than civil or
criminal confi nement to achieve the twin objectives of increasing public safety and
reducing recidivism. Many prisoners with mental illness can be treated more
effectively in community settings. They do not require incarceration for public safety
reasons. Two practices exist to minimize the use of imprisonment: diversion keeps
defendants or convicted persons out of prison in the fi rst place; decarceration
deinstitutionalizes or displaces them from confi nement once they have been put
behind bars. Diversion programs and “alternatives to incarceration” aim to divert
those persons subject to pretrial release or sentencing decisions.