As many know, C.I.T. is a jail diversion program to assist consumers living with mental illness to have alternative solutions to the criminal justice system when dealing with law enforcement calls for service. Unfortunately, some individuals end up in our jails with very little assistance to address their illness as it should be. As a matter of policy, Sheriff Eddie Cathey has made sure that all intake and processing officers at the Union County Jail are C.I.T. trained to assist consumers that do fall through the “cracks” in the system.

On July 15, 2009, C.I.T. Officer Kelly Martin encountered a female consumer that had slipped into acute psychosis due to lack of medication she had previously taken for her mental illness as well as withdrawal from a medication that had not been prescribed to her. The consumer also failed to answer medical screening questions truthfully upon her admission to the jail days before on July 9th, making it difficult to know her true medical history. Officer Martin began to notice that the consumer was not eating at meal times and exhibiting less than normal behavior. She quickly acted and got medical staff involved with the case. She also involved me in the process to see what kind of help we could find for her. I contacted Mobile Crisis and a clinician was at our facility within 30 minutes of being called. The consumer was irrational, severely hallucinogenic and unable to answer any questions during the evaluation.

Officer Martin and I began using our de-escalation skills taught in C.I.T. and we were able to gain some trust with the consumer to safely get her calmed down. I was then able to secure a court order to have the consumer sent to the state prison hospital where she spent the next thirteen days receiving treatment and counseling. During her hospitalization, I involved her family in the process and made plans for her speedy release when she completed treatment. I made another referral to Todd Rapoza of PBH to assist the consumer and her family once she was released from jail.

From A-Z, the consumer in this case benefited from C.I.T. because Officer Martin and I were able to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental illness.  We were also able to use de-escalation techniques to calm and gain trust of the consumer. We had many resources available to us to get the consumer the help she truly needed to recover. On the day of the consumer’s release, she was very appreciative of all the help she received while in custody—even though she had no recollection of her crisis event. Her family was extremely satisfied with the care and attention we were able to provide and stated they would do everything in their power to keep her on the road to recovery.

Lieutenant Jeff Outen
Union County Sheriff’s Office