Under a new look jail diversion program, persons with mental health and substance use issues charged with minor crimes could receive treatment and services to navigate recovery, avoid jail and change their lives for the better.
A collaboration between the Springfield-Greene County Health Department and Springfield Municipal Court, the program has helped lower the jail population and recidivism rate. On average, it costs less than housing someone in the Greene County Jail, and it can have an immeasurable impact on participants.
The Springfield City Council will consider re-establishing the jail diversion program — which ceased operating in 2023 — on May 6 with $90,800 from recreational marijuana sales tax revenues, which the city began collecting this year.
Council members expressed support for the program, both during the April 22 public hearing on the bill and in a March committee meeting, where the four members of the City Council’s Community Involvement Committee recommended giving new life to the partnership.
“If we can get people out of jail, even if it doesn't save us money, I think that we have a moral obligation to help people who are willing to change,” Councilmember Derek Lee said at the March meeting.
How the jail diversion program operates
Under the program, Municipal Court judges will refer individuals to a community health advocate, who will determine if they are fit for the program and develop a care plan for each participant. The judge would then enter an order releasing them under the conditions of the plan, which would be finalized by the parties in the case and tailored for the needs of each individual.
Through partnerships with southwest Missouri nonprofit and health care organizations, the community health advocate team will help participants navigate health care systems and social services, explore employment opportunities and provide medicine, treatment, housing, food, transportation and other necessities.
“We feel like it's a great opportunity with our skilled staff to be able to step in and basically pick back up from what they had been doing before, working with folks and connecting with them to get the resources that they need,” Assistant Director of Health Rinda Davis said.
Unlike the previous iteration of the program, which included individuals facing more serious charges for up to a year, the revamped jail diversion program will help put low-risk offenders on a shorter, more “intense” pathway to recovery and stability. Potential participants will be considered on a case-by-case basis, but may include individuals cited for trespassing, illegal camping, obstructing a police officer or even assault.
In addition to helping participants avoid jail time, completion of the program could lead to the judge setting aside a guilty plea or the prosecutor dismissing the case altogether. Of the 25 people who have taken part in the program in 2023, 19 were successful. With additional staff, the Health Department hopes to serve 100 participants per year.
“The true value comes from investment in people,” probation officer Jenny Deppe said. “And so, when we are able to capture somebody at that right moment of clarity, which is sometimes when they're sitting in a jail, to make changes, that becomes so valuable for my clients.”
Municipal Court Chief Judge Wendy Garrison believes having a community health advocate is the difference-maker for the program, and makes people more likely want to participate.
“They're not asking them about their criminal history, they're not asking them why they're here,” Garrison said. “They're asking things like ‘Who's your doctor? And what are you treated for?' And things like that, that are questions about caring about them.”
Additional funding needed
The $90,800 earmark will help get the program up and running, though additional funding will be needed for the city’s upcoming fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. The Springfield-Greene County Health Department and Springfield Municipal Court plan to request a total of $363,200 for the program in the upcoming budget, Davis said.
The initial funding allocation will allow the Health Department to hire two full-time community health advocates and one part time supervisor. Additional funding will cover continued personnel costs, supplies and services and operational expenses.
The program launched in July 2021 after the Health Department, along with other health care partners, explored the effects of mental health and substance use in the community and identified the opportunity to intervene in the criminal justice system.
Initially, the jail diversion program was funded through Greene County’s ½-cent general sales tax revenues, but funding was discontinued in September 2023 after the county commission reallocated the funds to Pretrial Services, which offers similar resources as the jail diversion program.
Greene County Presiding Commissioner Bob Dixon commended the jail diversion program, but said it was “kind of a duplication” of the work Pretrial Services was already doing.
“We just saw the results and the success that [Pretrial Services] was having, so we decided to just basically just ramp their’s up,” Dixon said. “[The jail diversion program is] a good program, and it would basically fill that need with municipal offenses.”
In addition to providing necessities and helping connect people to peer support, mental health counseling and other community resources, Pretrial Services conducts hundreds of risk assessments for defendants facing misdemeanor and felony charges, and monitoring individuals that have been released from custody.
