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Criminal Justice Reform

Ending the incarceration of innocent people experiencing addiction and/or mental illness.

Overview

The July 17 ACTION at House of Hope has moved long-term goals in our efforts to reform Mental Health to divert persons suffering mental health crises from the criminal justice system. Opening several Crisis Stabilization Units in the region to divert persons from jail and expanding support for persons in mental health crises has been a goal for many years. After hearing about the accomplishments made on the Mental Health front in Aurora by the Fox River Valley Initiative to open a facility at Mercy Hospital, Alderman Osterman (48th Ward) toured the Crisis Stabilization Unit in September and pledged to work with us to improve mental health support in Chicago. Additionally, leaders have worked with Senator Durbin’s staff to create faster and easier pathways for creating Crisis Stabilization units throughout the state.

Throughout 2022, United Power leaders met with Evanston’s Mayor Biss, the City Council, other elected officials, and the Director of Turning Point Behavioral Health to secure $900,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to develop a Mental Health Living Room in Evanston. The facility will be housed on St. Francis Hospital campus, and operations are scheduled to begin in early 2023.

STRATEGY

A coordinated, focused investment in pre-booking diversion throughout our state includes:

Crisis Intervention Training for Front Line Police and EMS Workers

  • Rapidly expand the number of CIT trained officers. Initially, set a goal of at least one trained officer per shift.
  • Set metrics: Assist departments in tracking CIT calls and responses.
  • Coordinate relationships between police departments, mental health services and criminal justice systems.

Mental Health Services

  • Stop the 10-year disinvestment in mental health services that has left the state with an unsustainable network of service provision.
  • Invest in Crisis Stabilization services – emergency psychiatric services aimed at stabilizing patients with coordination to long-term care.

Long-Term Investment in Affordable and Accessible Housing

Access to affordable, supportive housing helps people with mental illness improve
their quality of life AND it saves money for state, county and city governments. The
scale and pace of creating affordable, accessible housing needs to significantly ramp
up to meet the demand. Since 2012, Metro IAF in Illinois has generated 211 units of
such housing in the northeast Illinois region. We stand ready to put our expertise to
work but public investment is needed.

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