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31% of Whatcom County jail population identified with serious mental illness, county committee told
Summary
County behavioral-health and legal committee heard data showing 31% of people in custody have a known serious mental illness, longer average jail stays for that group, limited eligibility for mental-health court alternatives, and housing and capacity barriers to diversion.
Hannah Sloan, clinical program director for Lifeline Connections, told Whatcom County joint legal and behavioral health committees in June that “as of right now, of the individuals currently in custody, 31 percent have a known serious mental illness.”
The data Sloan presented is part of the county’s monthly internal tracking of people in custody with serious mental illness (SMI) and options for diversion. Sloan said 80 percent of those with SMI have at least one case open in superior court and that 42 percent have cases in multiple courts or jurisdictions. “We have about 43 percent who are booked in for at least 1 violent crime,” Sloan said, and “42 percent have…
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