Commissioners Doherty and Hall Participate in Governor Brown’s BHJRI Steering Committee

Oregon’s Behavioral Health Justice Reinvestment (BHJRI) Steering Committee was created by Governor Brown in 2018 to develop a data-driven approach to address challenges in how the state responds to people in the criminal justice system who have mental illnesses and substance addictions. Commissioner Jim Doherty (Morrow County) and Commissioner Claire Hall (Lincoln) are AOC’s representatives on the BHJRI Steering Committee.

With financial support from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Council of State Governments (CSG) is providing technical support for BHJRI. The BHJRI approach will focus on developing a statewide policy framework to help support tribal government, county, and local systems in improving recidivism and health outcomes for the small but important group of people who repeatedly cycle through both the public safety and health systems. Using the findings from the quantitative and qualitative analyses of the project, the steering committee will develop statewide policy and budget options to recommend to the 2019 legislature for consideration.

The BHJRI Steering Committee kicked off with a meeting on October 31, 2018 and has met twice since then; the final meeting will be held February 7, 2019.

During the first meeting, CSG staff presented analyses highlighting how a small number of people can account for a large percentage of annual jail admissions. For example, Clackamas County has a population of just over 400,000 residents. In 2017, a group of 569 people booked into the county jail accounted for almost 20 percent of all booking events (2,848 separate admissions).

“The criminal justice system was designed to prevent, protect against and prosecute criminal offenses. It was not designed to treat mental illness or substance addiction,” said Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen, who serves as co-chair of the Behavioral Health Justice Reinvestment Steering Committee. “The best way to support people with behavioral health needs is to connect them to treatment in their local communities. The Justice Reinvestment process will allow us to develop solutions that better promote individual recovery while preserving community safety.”

More than 30 states have successfully used the Justice Reinvestment approach to date, with each state tailoring the process to help address particularly challenging issues within their criminal justice systems. Policy packages that states have passed have often had significant impacts on controlling criminal justice spending, averting growth in prison populations and increasing public safety. While improving access to and the quality of community-based behavioral health treatment are often critical pieces of these Justice Reinvestment approaches, Oregon is the first state to focus its Justice Reinvestment efforts entirely on the intersection of the criminal justice and behavioral health systems.

CSG initially came to Oregon in May 2018, when the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission and Oregon Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission hosted a statewide public safety forum hosted at the Salem Convention Center. Commissioner Hall and Commissioner Karen Joplin (Hood River County) have been part of a multitude of initiatives to to improve behavioral health and criminal justice partnerships.

The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center (CSG)  is a national nonprofit organization that provides practical, nonpartisan advice and evidence-based, consensus-driven strategies to policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels to increase public safety and strengthen communities.

Contributed by: Andy Smith | AOC Legislative Manager