Luzerne County manager discusses changes in inmate mental health

Feb. 20--A different, tougher criminal has mental health issues moreso than predecessors, says the Luzerne County manager.

Robert Lawton gave the Hazleton Rotary Club an idea what kind of prisoners the Luzerne County Correctional Facility has.

Lawton, speaking to the group at its lunch meeting Wednesday, said the county lockup averages 700 inmates per day, 500 in the main facility and another 200 in a minimum offenders unit. There are also 100 in day reporting center programs meant to prevent recidivism.

"During 2014, we've seen a big change in the nature of the population of our facility," Lawton said. "We're getting inmates who represent some of the same issues that are found in the larger, urban areas. They've changed to a more hardened, drug-addicted offender, and a younger, gang-related, violent offender."

Lawton said the reason for the transformation is a change in the drugs people are now abusing. There's been an increase in the use of so-called bath salts, which are really "a chemical mix that's never the same thing twice," Lawton said. These new drugs cause "particularly violent reactions" because they are constantly being reformulated, he added.

"Addiction and behavioral health issues among inmates probably make the correctional facility the county's largest mental heath treatment facility," he said. "We have a caseload of over 180 inmates, 90 of whom are on one form or another of psychotropic medication. These are people who have serious organic mental health issues."

During 2014, the county jail had 357 behavioral health-related incidents. Corrections officers prevented 17 suicide attempts and more than 100 incidents of inmates trying to harm themselves.

"Fortunately, there were no suicides, but it tells you a lot of what we deal with and the cycle of recidivism we're trying to break," Lawton said.

There's been a change in the female prison population as well, Lawton said.

"Another trend is more female inmates committing more serious crimes," he said. "We are at the point the overflow has to be boarded in other facilities, sometimes out of county. We are addressing mental health issues. We've had some success, and I look forward to more progress."

Human services agencies

Luzerne County is one of the first in the state to engage the human services block grant program, which provides more flexibility with the expenditure of state funds, the manager said.

"It lets us target areas of emerging need," he said. "We are serving more consumers than we could have ever before, and I think the agencies involved are targeting the funds where they have the biggest impact. The children and youth agency has had significant cash flow issues. They need to be more timely in submission of claims and proper budgeting. But we have a new director, a new staff and new practices in place."

Mental health developmental services are also funded primarily by block grant. This department also has a new director in Jim Davis, a career county employee who Lawton said has "brought an incredible frame of reference, a lot of zeal, a lot of zest" to the position.

In 2014, Lawton said one of the major providers of services stopped operating in the county and it gave county officials an opportunity to rethink the service delivery system.

"Instead of relying on center-based services like workshops, we've moved to community-based services, enabling more consumers to have real-world employment opportunities, additional recreational opportunities and the support they need to develop personally," he said.

The mental health and developmental services agency has received funding through community hospital integration program (CHIP).

"Instead of building additional group home capability like they do in some places, we have assisted folks from the area state hospital to re-enter the community and live on their own, with support," he said. "It started with funding for 10, now we have 14. Some of those funds have been used by the Public Defender's Office to hire an attorney to work with incarcerated mental heath consumer at the correctional facility to find the appropriate treatment and other supports that will enable them to be returned to society and reduce the risk of recidivism."

Lawton said mainstreaming these people back into the community is the key to cutting recidivism.

"It is important on two levels," he said. "First, we are getting people the treatment they need, and second, we're providing structure and support so they get off that merry-go-round and don't re-offend. It is expensive for the county, and incredibly expensive for human beings to be on that merry-go-round."

'One big room'

Luzerne County's home rule has provided for the combination of five former county row offices into the new Judicial Services and Records department, which is one of the county's largest agencies.

"We merged recorder of deeds and register of wills," he said. "We're cross training to maximize productivity. We have online access for Recorder of Deeds records back to 1963. We are scanning deed records back to 1786. That project will be completed and online by the end of 2015."

Register of Wills also now provides many of its services to the public online.

"Register of Wills provides electronic marriage applications, allowing couples to fill out all pertinent information prior to coming into the office," Lawton said. "Register of Wills records are online back to 2005, and we are also looking at e-filing probate documents."

Records from the prothonotary's office dating back to 2004 are now also online, Lawton said.

"The prothonotary's office now offers 22 different types of e-filing; we are going to increase that even more," he said. "If you are a legal practitioner, or have (business) with the prothonotary's office, very like you'll be able to so that without leaving South County."

Lawton said he sees all records eventually being in one place for convenience.

This year, Lawton said the county will also put into place a computerized maintenance management system.

"We have hundreds of thousands of feet of county space, and dozens of vehicles and heavy equipment," he said. "This will provide us with preventative maintenance schedules, and a record of how much things cost to own and operate. This will be an incredibly useful tool for our small but dedicated building and grounds department and fleet management folks. We have to make the investment to maintain the facilities we have, because we are not going to have any new ones for quite some time to come."

Lawton also said the county will bring in an energy savings provider who will provide an investment-rate audit of energy use.

In administrative services, Lawton said he has proposals to computerize the county's telephone system and update the overall computer system.

"We're going to be running our computers from a main server, so we're not buying new PCs every three, five years," he said. "It makes it more cost-effective and efficient to maintain the latest software and to avoid doing a refresh on PCs."

911

Lawton also addressed the county's 911 emergency calls center, which is the subject of an investigation into alleged errors.

"The 911 center handles about 460,000 calls a year, and answers 98 percent within 10 seconds," Lawton said. "There have been a couple of unfortunate incidents, but in neither case have the center's protocalls, training, or standard operating procedure been cited as a reason for what happened.

"I have full confidence in our 911 call takers, dispatchers and the management there," he said. "Are there opportunities for improvement? There always are."

jdino@standardspeaker.com

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