A Deserving Honoree

Until recently, it was unusual for corrections officials and mental health advocates to work together. Carol Carothers was instrumental in changing this and for that she has been recognized by the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for her work as the director of Maine’s chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.

One of 10 honorees nationwide, Ms. Carothers was chosen for the Community Health Leadership award for her ability to “create collaboration between systems that tend to discourage it.” As a result of those collaborations, new programs have been created, task forces formed and legislation passed to help ease the problems associated with housing the mentally ill in jail.

Nationally, correctional facilities house eight times as many mentally ill people as do state psychiatric facilities. Yet, for years, corrections officials said the mentally ill were not “their people.” Mental health officials said they did not work with those who were incarcerated and the public just wanted these people locked up because they were dangerous, Ms. Carothers recalled recently.

Now, jail administrators and police officials sing her praises, as do health care professionals and mental health advocates. More importantly, they are working together to solve a daunting problem. Nationally, about 16 percent of the inmate population is in treatment for mental illness, but in Maine, that figure is closer to 25 percent, according to a report released in 2002 by NAMI-Maine.

The result has been a rise in inmate suicides and attempts. One inmate at the Penobscot County jail tried to kill himself eight times, yet Sheriff Glenn Ross had a difficult time convincing mental health officials to commit the man to a hospital where he would be safe and receive treatment.

As testimony to Ms. Carothers success in raising awareness of this problem and working toward finding solutions, programs have been created to reduce the number of people with mental illness in the state’s jails. Six Maine communities have formed crisis-intervention teams, which include police officers trained to de-escalate psychiatric situations. Such efforts reduce arrest rates and lead to calmer patients or inmates if they must be taken to a hospital or jail. There are plans to start such a team in Bangor. Other communities have built community-based facilities where those who have broken laws but also need mental health treatment can be housed.

Perhaps more importantly, lawmakers, community members and law enforcement officials are now talking about the dire need to provide treatment, not punishment, to this previously unclaimed population. Progress has been made, but much work remains to be done. Fortunately, Carol Carothers will be there to make sure it gets done.