The issue of mental illness in jail detainees has piqued the interest of many researchers, as the issue is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s society. Sarah Desmarais, associate professor of psychology and program coordinator of applied social and community psychology, recognized this correlation and has dedicated much of her time to combating the issue.

Last Friday afternoon Desmarais and Sara Warren, budget and management analyst for the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, presented research findings from a recent project the two had been working on about the topic of mental health problems in jail detainees. The research was presented to the NC State Social and Behavioral Health Research Group.

“I had started a lot of my work as a graduate student focusing more on the psychiatric system, and that was a major focus for a long time for me,” Desmarais said.

After moving to the U.S. from Canada for a faculty job, Desmarais noticed a lapse in the availability of mental health resources. This trend was most apparent in psychiatric hospitals, which Desmarais noticed were especially scarce.

“The place where adults with mental health issues end up going is in jails,” Desmarais said. “There’s a huge turnover rater and great overrepresentation of mental illness in jail.”

Desmarais first began researching the burden of mental health on jail detainees in 2012, when she joined the Wake County Forensic Team. Warren became involved with the project in 2015. A year later, Desmarais decided to present her findings to the advisory committee at the Wake County Detention Center.

Only as of this month has the team been funded for their efforts, as the Wake County Detention Center decided to partner with the NC State researchers. The team hopes to find ways that will provide detainees with mental health services both during and after their stay at the jail.

“About 11 million adults are admitted to U.S. jails every year, and about 2 million of those adults are suffering from serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, along with major mood disorders,” Desmarais said.

As of now, the Wake County Detention Center uses a very traditional interview process to determine whether or not a recently admitted detainee has signs of a mental illness.

The brief mental health screening consists of only eight questions, and is conducted directly after a person is admitted to the jail. Afterward, a nurse determines whether or not those who screen positive for mental illness need additional care. If so, those people will be put under stricter observation to prevent potential violence to themselves or others.

“Since there are policies around monitoring those who need more observation, there needs to be more resources,” Warren said. “We need to have more officers to check on these people four times an hour to make sure they are not hurting themselves.”

Another issue to think about is that of inmates’ access to psychiatric medication and services while in the jail. As many of these detainees depend on governmental services — such as disability benefits — their resources are no longer available seeing that those services are halted once they are admitted into jail.

These services are also not provided after they leave the jail, which can sometimes lead to a pattern of coming back into the criminal justice system.

“You have people who are used to going to public health to get their mental health services and now they don’t know where to go,” Warren said. “The whole system has just been shaken up. A lot of times these people are homeless and there’s no stability in their lives and now they can’t get their meds or the treatment they were used to getting.”

As all these findings were presented through Desmarais and Warren’s research; the two have helped collaborate on solutions to the issue at hand. Since 2012, Wake County has doubled its allocation to Alliance Behavioral Healthcare to the criminal justice system, as they are the team of mental health professionals used in the jail.

The Wake County Detention Center has also increased staff for specialty housing for inmates with more serious mental illness. In addition, the research team helped implement a Forensic Post Release, a program that aids inmates in gaining essential support and services after being released.