Nebraska corrections officials address mental health in criminal justice

Mental health has become a major concern in the criminal justice system as those needing professional help end up incarcerated instead of treated.

The main question for many is, what is the best way to get help for those who need it?

"What I see from my experiences in the prison system is an ever growing need. Eighty percent of our population has some substance abuse issues, so that's the behavioral health spectrum. Easily a third of the men and half the women have a clear mental health diagnosis," Nebraska Corrections Director Scott Frakes said to 6 news.

Frakes said many of those issues are driven by substance abuse and societal stress.

"By the time they get to us, they are bringing mostly a lifetime of trauma and it is a difficult issue," he said.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine agreed.

"How do we keep them out of the system? How do we get them to turn the corner so that they are not going to be in the criminal justice system?" he asked.

Kleine said a large number of those in the Douglas County jail have some types of mental health issues.

"Sometimes it is a strain because we're not just going to put somebody away and forget about them. That might have been an easier way to do things a long time ago, but that's not the right way, and we're going to do things the right way. And it's about getting people the help they need to make them better citizens," Kleine said.

He said programs like Drug Court, Veterans Court and juvenile programs help, but more is needed.

"There is still an issue at the time with the number of beds that are available to serve people here in a large community like Douglas County," Kleine said.

With the closing of facilities like Richard Young, which dealt with those suffering mental health problems, community programs are all that is available for people to get the help they need before they end up in the criminal justice system.

"I didn't believe in therapy. I kind of felt like therapy is for people who think they're broken, and for me, I just felt like I wasn't broken and just deal with things on my own," Omaha resident Ronny said.

He went to the Stephen Center last year for help.

"I was staying with my godmother one day and told her I was going to work and I came here and just never went back there," Ronny said.

He said a lot of people who need help simply can't get it.

"You lose hope a lot of times because you call and they tell you well just keep calling us back and something will open up and in that time and after a while it's been a week, or two weeks maybe, and after a while, people just lose hope," Ronny said.

Matt Keyes is a crisis intervention therapist at Stephen Center. He said the center offers a variety of help, but even if it were ten times larger it wouldn't be enough.

"And there are going to be way more people. Even that size, we will need to accommodate. So it takes a community," Keyes said.

Ronny said he made the first step to recovery but that there's more work to be done to help others.

"We can talk about it all day long, but if there's no action put into it then it's just useless. It's just words," he said.

Ronny was able to avoid jail during his battle.

"We don't want to be in that situation 50 years ago where we put these people in jail or in the criminal justice system when the underlying problem they have is a mental health issue," Kleine said.

Sarpy County plans to build a mental health facility that would serve some surrounding counties.