BANGOR – Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn Ross is being recognized by a statewide mental health agency for his work to address mental illness in prisoners at the county jail.

Maine’s division of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill has honored Ross with its criminal justice award, presented once annually.

This year, Ross tied for the award with June Koegel, president of Volunteers of America of Northern New England.

Ross’ leadership in bringing together the county’s law enforcement and mental health agencies began in 2004, when the sheriff called a press conference to highlight the growing problem of suicide attempts at the county jail, Carol Carothers, executive director of NAMI Maine, said Tuesday.

“It takes guts to call a press conference and say things aren’t working well in your jail,” she said.

At that time, Ross was trying to deal with an inmate who had just attempted suicide at the jail for the 10th time, the sheriff said Tuesday.

“All I was was a voice asking for help,” Ross said.

NAMI responded to his plea, and Ross worked with the alliance to develop the Penobscot Jail Diversion Coalition, a group of area law enforcement, corrections and mental health professionals, Carothers said.

The coalition continues its work to keep the mentally ill out of jail and in proper treatment programs, Carothers said.

“His leadership has transformed, and will continue to transform, how the system works together,” she said of Ross.

Also born of the sheriff’s work, in tandem with NAMI and Bangor police, are two crisis intervention teams at the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department and the Bangor Police Department, Carothers said.

Funded by a $21,000 grant from the Maine Department of Public Safety, the teams comprise officers in both departments who are trained in determining if a prisoner is suicidal.

The program is designed to improve management and care of such individuals who are incarcerated at the jail.

“We’ve had a number of very successful interventions,” Ross said.

NAMI continues its work with Ross to serve the mentally ill while keeping people in need of services out of county lockup, Carothers said.

“[Ross] recognized that he had a problem in his jail,” she said. “He decided to do something about it.”