DeKalb officials outline diversion center plan to reduce jail stays, cut costs

Summary

County public-safety and court officials described a proposed diversion center and an emergency receiving facility to treat people with mental-health and substance-use disorders, saying the center could reduce jail time, lower costs and speed police turnaround while highlighting housing and legal limits that must be addressed.

DeKalb County commissioners and court and jail officials on Thursday discussed plans for a diversion center combined with an emergency receiving facility aimed at diverting adults with nonviolent misdemeanor charges stemming from mental-health or substance-use crises away from the county jail and into treatment.

Kareem Martin, administrative division director of health services and medical liaison at the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, told the Finance, Audit and Budget Committee the county’s jail population has a high concentration of people with behavioral-health diagnoses and that many misdemeanor arrestees might be better served in a treatment setting. "Seventy-one percent of our average daily population has a mental-health diagnosis," Martin said, describing intake screening, ongoing diagnosis in custody and frequent use of psychotropic medications.

Martin and other officials laid out the…

DeKalb officials outline diversion center plan to reduce jail stays, cut costs

Summary

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