WAUKEGAN – Sheriff Mark Curran recently announced the receipt of a $100,000 grant from Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office was awarded the grant from Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County to continue partnering with Nicasa to provide the jail’s “high utilizer” population with treatment services to prevent rearrest and reincarceration, according to a news release.
In 2016, the Sheriff’s Office received a $50,000 grant from the Safety and Justice Challenge, supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, after a highly competitive selection process that drew applications from across the country.
Through the Safety and Justice Challenge, Lake County’s innovations focused on intensive case management to 30 “high utilizers” of the Lake County Jail. Upon release, they are provided individualized coordinated multi-agency services, with the goal of diverting them from rearrest and reincarceration.
Throughout the year, Lake County Jail staff and Nicasa Behavioral Health Services worked together developing a criteria and protocol to identify and assist 30 “high utilizers,” identified as inmates who were booked into the Lake County Jail on three or more occasions in a 12-month period.
The program proved successful with the following results: 17 inmates are successfully cycling through the program and haven’t been rebooked into the jail; seven inmates remain in custody in programming, pending their release into the program; and six inmates were discharged from the program after becoming noncompliant.
Issues of health, housing, and behavioral health services destabilize individuals and families and have a direct result on the recidivism rate among the target population.
This Jail Diversion Program is designed to meet the needs of its clients through a coordinated multi-agency approach aimed at a successful re-entry and reducing recidivism.