Group studying mental health, justice

A yearlong planning process was launched Wednesday to try to improve the criminal justice system’s interactions with people with mental illness.

The planning group, which includes representatives from Spokane-area law enforcement agencies, the court system and mental health experts, will examine how people with mental illness are treated on the streets, in the courts and in the jails.

“We face the fact every day that so many of our folks are in jail when they should be on a treatment regimen,” Spokane Superior Court Judge Linda Tompkins said.

In recent years, several high-profile cases have illustrated the need to better equip the criminal justice system to work with people with mental illness. The death last year of Otto Zehm, a 36-year-old janitor who died after being beaten and Tasered by Spokane police officers, sparked a public outcry about the treatment of the mentally ill.

During the past 30 years, thousands of people with a disability or mental illness left Washington’s state institutions for homes, apartments or private care. But the movement away from “institutionalization” increased pressure and costs on jails, hospitals and the public mental health system.

“These people need help, and the public needs to be protected,” Mayor Dennis Hession said at a news conference at the county courthouse. “We’re trying to get past our effort to treat symptoms and find solutions to these problems.”

Funded by a $50,000 grant from the U.S. Justice Department, the Spokane group will produce a strategic plan that identifies weaknesses in the current system, said Steven Neumiller, president of Inland Northwest Proposal Development, which helped secure the grant.

“The idea is to be able to identify people from the first response through the system,” Neumiller said. He added that improving communication about people with mental illness may be a key part of the plan.

Tompkins said the strategic plan may be used to seek further public funds to improve Spokane’s system.