The Bartholomew County Jail has been awarded a grant to increase funding for mental health services.
The Bartholomew County Commissioners have ratified a grant agreement between the county and the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. County administrator Tina Douglas said the grant is for $187,000, and a county fund has been created for the money.
The grant will reimburse the county for a portion of the cost providing mental health services at the Bartholomew County Jail. County attorney J. Grant Tucker said that the county will spend money first and then apply to be reimbursed up to the grant amount.
The funding will increase mental health services at the county jail from eight hours a week to 40 hours a week, said Bartholomew Circuit Court Judge Kelly Benjamin.
Because the jail has, on average, about 200 inmates, eight hours a week for mental health needs is “simply not sufficient,” she said.
“With COVID, we’ve been real careful with who’s in jail,” Benjamin said. “Usually we have higher risk, higher need people in jail. They need additional services. And with the isolation, there’s been an increase in mental health needs, not only in the regular community, but also in jails.”
The grant awarded to the jail is aimed at addressing problems that were created or exacerbated by COVID-19 — such as the increase in “multiple complex health needs” of inmates, she said.
“So you found those who were in there with a higher rate of preexisting mental disorders, suicide ideation, self-harm,” she explained. “They’re stressed out. They’re suffering anxiety. … A lot of those emotions are intensified by the unpredictability of COVID — not knowing when you’re going to get out, how much time you’re going to spend in, whether we can have court or not.”
Benjamin said she’s been “pleased” to see how the county has come together to address mental health and other needs amid the pandemic.
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2019:
- About 218 inmates with mental health referrals
- 121 inmates with mental health observations
- 8 “major mental health issues with inmates”
2020:
- 582 inmates with mental health referrals
- 473 inmates with mental health observations
- 53 major mental health issues with inmates
— Figures provided by Bartholomew Circuit Court Judge Kelly Benjamin.
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