Package of six bills aims to keep people out of jail and in treatment

Six related bills that arrived in the General Assembly this week promise to provide services more quickly to the mentally ill and people addicted to drugs.

The bills are the type of legislation that is popular with lawmakers — they ostensibly wouldn’t cost the state a dime.

“It just asks for new and improved thinking,” said Richland County Probate Judge Amy McCulloch, co-chairwoman of South Carolina Partners in Crisis, a group that advocates on behalf of the mentally ill.

The provision getting the most scrutiny would give police the authority to take people they pick up — those who appear to be mentally ill or drug dependent — to a mental health treatment facility instead of jail.

That “diversion” rule would apply even if the person in custody was accused of a victimless crime, such as vagrancy or urinating in public.

Supporters say the proposed laws also would streamline procedures and give judges new powers to deal with the mentally ill and drug dependent. They would better coordinate the efforts of police, courts, hospitals and other care facilities that come into contact with the mentally ill or drug dependent.

“These individuals deserve better treatment than they can currently get under our system,” said Rep. Jim Harrison, R-Richland, chief sponsor of the bills. “This just makes sense.”

Mental health advocates say the practice of picking up the mentally ill and taking them to jail without treatment has created a revolving door. The sick are not helped, and law enforcement resources are drained.

The diversion proposal also stipulates that if the offender is not examined within 24 hours, he must be set free. The bill provides limited immunity for law officers and medical personnel who provide the transportation.

That immunity is important, advocates say, because the threat of being held liable in a later civil action is what often keeps police from taking someone in their custody to a treatment facility.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, who co-chairs the Partners in Crisis group with McCulloch, has been taking that risk already.

“We just do it,” he said. “I assume the responsibility. It’s not a crime to be mentally ill. Right now, we’re treating them like they’re criminals.”

Columbia police have not always been as willing to do the same, mental health advocates say.

“Historically, the city has not been willing, or not been able, to do that,” said Tom Moore, community education coordinator for Columbia Area Medical Centers, a major treatment facility locally.

That seems to have changed.

“If an individual is encountered by our officers,” said Columbia Police Department spokesman Skot Garrick, “as long as that individual is not committing any kind of a major felony, we will try to determine their needs and get them to where they need to go — whether it’s a treatment facility, homeless shelter, or what have you.

“We will not just pick people up and dump them out at the Alvin Glenn Detention Center.”

Garrick said Police Chief Dean Crisp is waiting to see the final version of the proposed legislation before deciding how it would affect department procedures.

Other proposals in the package would:

• Allow probate judges to free the mentally ill from custody before a commitment hearing if two examiners say the person no longer requires emergency treatment. This provision would make beds available more often to those who need them.

• Allow mental evaluations to take place at community centers, when possible. This would reduce the number of children and adolescents admitted to the psychiatric hospital on Bull Street.

• Require that emergency detention orders for mental illness and chemical dependency evaluation be served within 72 hours. There now is no expiration on such orders, though they are only issued to address an emergency.

• Strengthen requirements that patients get continuous outpatient treatment. If the person fails to follow outpatient treatment schedules, a court could return the patient to inpatient status, supporters say.

Reach Burris at (803) 771-8398 or rburris@thestate.com