After a year and a half of research, a task force led by L.A. District Attorney Jackie Lacey is releasing a roadmap for reducing L.A.'s ever-growing number of mentally ill jail inmates, and diverting those who need it into treatment.
In a report being presented Wednesday afternoon to county supervisors' staff members, Lacey recommends mental health training for all law enforcement officers in the county, as well as steps for building up a network of treatment options for lower level offenders who don't necessarily belong in jail.
To read the rest of the story, click here
Guests:
Dan Abreu, senior project associate at Policy Research Associates, a research and consultant group offering services in the behavioral health field. Their research specialty is on mentally ill jail inmates diversion
Mark Gale, criminal justice chair, of the L.A. chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), a nonprofit mental health education and advocacy group. NAMI is part of D.A. Jackie Lacey’s task force that is behind the report