Abstract
Several interrelated factors over the last few decades have contributed to an increasing number of encounters between law enforcement and people with mental illness. The problem with these encounters is that law enforcement is usually requested because the person is in a crisis state, exhibiting unpredictable and threatening behavior, causing surrounding people to fear for their safety. Limited law enforcement training in dealing with these types of encounters, paired with little to no available mental health resources, often leaves the responding officer no choice but to take the consumer to jail to resolve the situation. The overrepresentation of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system is a nationwide problem. In response to this and various other associated problems, the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) concept was created to help improve the outcomes of these law enforcement encounters. CIT members are trained to recognize signs of mental illness along with de-escalation techniques to try to prevent a crisis event from escalating to a physical confrontation. Although it is considered a patrol intervention, the CIT model can be adapted to the custody setting to help improve interactions between inmates with mental illness and law enforcement staff. This purpose of this project was create and implement a Custody CIT (CCIT) at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in Sacramento, CA. The CCIT will consist of two to three CIT trained deputies per shift, who are also provided additional custody specific information. They would continue to work their regular assignment, but are available to respond to an inmate in crisis. The main goals of the CCIT are the same as the CIT, to reduce the likelihood of a crisis event escalating to a physical confrontation, and increase communication with jail psychiatric services to help improve services for the inmates.