NORWICH – Money recently allocated by the New York State Office of Mental Health is allowing the Chenango County Department of Mental Hygiene Services to explore new options when it comes to providing rehabilitation services for inmates at the county jail.
In response to the reduction of services to state-supported inpatient facilities – namely the Greater Binghamton Health Center in Broome County and the Elmira Psychiatric Center in Chemung County – the state OMH has tagged $160,800 to be shared between Chenango and Delaware counties.
According to Chenango Mental Hygiene Services Director Ruth Roberts, those funds will be used to support four full-time positions between the Chenango and Delaware county jails (one engagement and transitional support position in each county, and one care recovery position in each county). The aim of those positions, said Roberts, is to provide services to inmates that may keep them from reverting to the lifestyles that landed them in jail in the first place.
“When individuals are in jail, they often express that they want to change their lifestyle and turn things around. Too often, we see people leave the jail and go right back to their old environments, to those people places and things that cause them to not be able to follow through on those plans,” said Roberts. “We're hoping with additional support and services through that transition period that we’ll be able to see better overall health outcomes for these individuals. We're also hoping to see less recidivism in terms of committing other crimes that would send them back to the county jail or the state prison system.”
Roberts is currently working with mental health and jail administrators in Chenango and Delaware to put together an implementation plan in both counties.
“Engaging individuals when they’re in the jail is probably going to be much easier than engaging them on the outside because there is somewhat of a captive audience there,” she added. “But we’ll do our best to develop some viable plans for these individuals based on what they’re saying they want to work towards.”
The recent allotment of state funds comes six months after OMH announced it would pull back monetary support to the Greater Binghamton Health Center and Elmira Psychiatric Center, which in turn puts more strain on counties to provide services for individuals that would otherwise be admitted to those facilities. In Binghamton, the reduction of funds forced a reduction of beds for inpatient services. The center announced in December that it would decrease the number of adult beds from 90 to 60, but continue its child and adolescent services.
Likewise, the Elmira Psychiatric Center said it would continue certain services; however, the number of adult beds would be reduced to 24.
While the recent disbursement of funds from OMH will help offset the local effects of bed closures in Binghamton and Elmira, Roberts said she’s uncertain that funding will always be used for the forensic program.
“I have been told that the state will continue this funding from year to year,” she said. “But we may look at other areas in the overall system of care that would benefit from additional funds if they do become available.”