"Understanding the Population of People with Frequent Jail Contact" was a mixed-methods project that examined the characteristics and experiences of people who frequently contacted jails in three counties in the United States over six to ten years. The project also considered the different strategies used by counties to reduce frequent jail contact and focused on the impact that those strategies had on People of Color and people with behavioral health conditions.
Based on the findings, the researchers developed the following recommendations to help communities address the needs of people experiencing frequent jail contact toward the goal of reducing future contact:
- Create a Data Sharing Ecosystem: Criminal legal and behavioral health professionals need to establish a common, shared understanding of who is interacting with their systems at a high rate to focus efforts.
- Establish Formal, Jurisdiction-Specific Definitions: Jurisdictions should create shared definitions and criteria to identify people with frequent jail contact, gaining input from impacted parties.
- Use Validated Behavioral Health Screening Tools: Universal screening policies using validated screening tools should be applied during entrance into and out of the criminal legal system.
- Implement Psychiatric Advanced Directives: Encouraging the creation of Psychiatric Advanced Directives could reduce the need for coercive interventions and accelerate the process of receiving mental health treatment.
- Facilitate Jail In-Reach Programs: Connecting people in jail with providers before reentry can facilitate coordinated, continuous support as people return to their communities.
- Increase Peer Support Programs: People with lived experience of behavioral health treatment and the criminal legal system can provide supports in jail and upon reentry into the community.
- Improve Access to Housing: Safe, affordable, and supportive housing should be expanded and made as low-barrier as possible.
- Increase Utilization of Community-Based Services: People should be provided with the supports needed to be successful through strategies including warm handoffs, integrated treatment options, and connections to social services.
- Center and Evaluate Efforts for Racial Equity: Jurisdictions should develop, with input from impacted parties, specific strategies to reduce racial inequities for people who experience frequent jail contact.
Resources
Podcast: Breaking the Cycle of Frequent Jail Contact
In this episode of the Data Points podcast, Senior Research Associates Samantha Zottola, PhD, and Lisa Callahan, PhD., discuss key takeaways from their recently finished project, “Understanding and Preventing Frequent Jail Contact,”
- Why it’s important to focus research on people who frequently cycle through jail
- How lack of housing influences jail contact
- What’s been done to interrupt the cycle of frequent jail contact
- Who is impacted and any racial disparities in their study’s findings
Webinar: Understanding the Population of People with Frequent Jail Contact
In this webinar, Sarah L. Desmarais, PhD, and Samantha Zottola, PhD, shared findings from a mixed-methods project that examined the characteristics and experiences of people with frequent jail contact in three counties across the United States. The speakers discussed county-level strategies to reduce frequent jail contact and the impact of those strategies on people of color and people with behavioral health conditions. This webinar was hosted by Policy Research on September 29, 2023.
This research was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation through the Safety and Justice Challenge Research Consortium, which is managed by the City University of New York Institute for State & Local Governance.