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County discusses jail mental-health screening, MOU with Central Kansas Mental Health; facilitator and court options considered
Summary
Sheriff's office and county officials described existing intake screening, an MOU under review with Central Kansas Mental Health that raises HIPAA questions, and plans to pursue a facilitator model and greater community coordination to reduce recidivism among people with mental illness.
Dickinson County commissioners spent significant time on July 3 discussing mental-health services for people booked into the county jail, current screening procedures, and a potential memorandum of understanding with Central Kansas Mental Health to expand services and continuity of care after release.
Jerry (county jail staff) told commissioners the jail uses a booking questionnaire that assigns points and triggers additional screening when a threshold is reached. When the screening indicates concern, Central Kansas Mental Health performs assessments — sometimes by Zoom — and Advanced Correctional Health Care conducts a 14-day intake assessment that includes a suicide-risk screen, Jerry said. "We have in our booking procedure... it's got yes or no questions that we ask and answer, and it gives them points," he said.
Jerry and county staff reported that Central Kansas Mental Health is already doing follow-up therapy for some inmates and presented recent invoice figures: one person received four therapy visits since May 14, and another had roughly 15–18 therapy visits since October of the prior year; staff said the contractor charged about $70 per visit. County officials described a draft MOU with Central Kansas Mental Health that is under negotiation; the jail's leadership told commissioners the agreement as drafted would make the jail a HIPAA business associate, which raises privacy and compliance questions that are still being resolved.
Commissioners and staff discussed a facilitator model in which a mental-health professional based at the jail would work with inmates while they are incarcerated and arrange community follow-up after release to reduce recidivism. County Administrator Janelle Dockendorf said the facilitator concept would aim to set up external mental-health appointments and maintain continuity of care. She also described cooperation with other local programs and agencies, including the CARES Coalition and the Central Kansas Mental Health mobile crisis team, which can assist deputies responding to callers in the field.
Officials described longer-term goals such as a mental-health court modeled on drug court, where eligible defendants would enter supervised treatment and monitoring rather than standard criminal processing; several commissioners said such a program would be a major, multi-party undertaking. Commissioners asked staff to convene a meeting with the judge, the sheriff, Central Kansas Mental Health, probation, and other stakeholders to assess next steps, participants and costs.
No formal policy change was approved at the meeting. Commissioners directed staff to schedule the stakeholder meeting to clarify responsibilities, the scope of services, and any contract or privacy (HIPAA) implications of a formal agreement with Central Kansas Mental Health.
