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Types of Jail Diversion Programs

There are two general categories of jail diversion programs defined by the point in criminal justice processing where diversion occurs (Steadman et al., 1995):

Pre-booking diversion: Individuals with mental illness and/or co-occurring disorders may be identified for diversion by police, before formal charges are brought. Pre-booking diversion occurs at the point of contact with law enforcement officers and relies heavily on effective interactions between police and community mental health and substance abuse services. Most pre-booking programs are characterized by specialized training for police officers and a 24-hour crisis drop-off center with a no-refusal policy for persons brought in by the police. The most recognized program model is the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) developed in Memphis, TN. Other models of pre-booking diversion involve collaboration between police and specially-trained mental health service providers who co-respond to calls involving a potential mental health crisis. The TAPA Center publication, A Guide to Implementing Police-Based Diversion Programs for People with Mental Illness, describes the experiences of many communities seeking to implement or improve CIT and other pre-booking diversion programs.

Post-booking diversion is the most prevalent type of diversion program in the United States. These programs identify and divert individuals with mental illness after they have been arrested. The TAPA Center publication, Non-Specialty First Appearance Court Models for Diverting Persons with Mental Illness: Alternatives to Mental Health Courts, discusses diversion models that occur very early in the criminal justice process. In some cases, individuals are diverted later in the process, including at disposition or sentencing. Points at which individuals may be diverted, post-booking, include:

• At or immediately after booking into jail, before the formal filing of charges
• Release from pretrial detention, with the condition of participation in treatment
• Prior to disposition, for example, upon the prosecutor's offer of deferred prosecution
• At disposition or sentencing; this may include deferred sentencing or release on probation with conditions which include participation in treatment
• When at risk of, or following, a violation of probation related to a prior conviction

Specialty courts, such as mental health courts, are an increasingly visible form of post-booking diversion program, in which all cases involving people with mental illness are handled through a special docket. The Department of Justice’s Mental Health Courts Program provides a great deal of information on the design, implementation and operation of mental health courts.

Diversion program staff work with prosecutors, public defenders, community-based mental health and substance abuse providers and the courts to develop and implement a plan for diversion and linkage to an appropriate array of community-based services. Nearly all post-booking diversion programs include some type of monitoring of compliance with treatment, though the level of supervision and the active involvement of the court vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Charges are often reduced or dropped upon the individual’s successful program completion. In the alternative, the individual diverted may receive less time or no time in jail at sentencing as a result of participating in the jail diversion program.

It is important to distinguish jail diversion from discharge or transition planning. Discharge planning activities should be part of usual criminal justice processing and occur only when the detainee would ordinarily leave the jail. By contrast, jail diversion is a special, targeted program to short circuit usual criminal court processing to the benefit of the detainee, the correctional staff and the community.

Key Features

The fundamental principle on which all jail diversion programs should be based is treatment as the least restrictive alternative. While the goal of a diversion program should be to reduce or eliminate the amount of time an individual is incarcerated, it must be kept in mind that most diversion programs include some level of community supervision under the auspices of court supervision, community corrections, or civil mental health statutes. The rights of the individuals must always be respected and treatment should be the least restrictive option.

There are six key features that have emerged as essential for creating a successful jail diversion program (Steadman et al., 1995). These elements are crucial in linking the criminal justice and community treatment systems:

1. Interagency collaboration: Service integration at the community level, including involvement of social services, housing, mental health, health, local corrections (institutional and community), criminal justice and substance abuse agencies.
2. Active involvement: Regular meetings for service coordination and information sharing and the establishment of written Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs).
3. “Boundary-spanner”: Staff who bridge the mental health, criminal justice, and substance abuse systems and manage cross-system staff interactions.
4. Leadership: A strong leader to network and coordinate.
5. Early identification: Individuals should be screened, at the earliest point possible, for mental health treatment needs and to determine whether they meet the criteria for diversion.
6. Cross-trained case managers: Case managers should have adequate knowledge and experience with mental health and criminal justice systems.

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