Melissa Kovacs

Noor Singh

Much time, attention and resources are spent on prisons and state and federal-level criminal justice policymaking, while fewer academic space and understanding is given to County jails and their role in the criminal justice system. 

Even less studied are frequent jail users.  Frequent jail users tend to be the most vulnerable population of County jails – the homeless, who frequently suffer from mental health disorders and substance abuse.  Surprisingly, understanding and describing the intersection between homelessness, mental illness, and jail usage remains overwhelmingly understudied.  Maricopa County, AZ, the nation’s 4^th largest County, is measuring and describing this intersection.

While measurement and description are not sophisticated statistical analyses, they are a necessary first step toward understanding causal effects.  In this case, understanding the cause of frequent jail usage can go far in local government understanding of jail cost savings.  This paper highlights the current state of understanding this intersection in order to further understand the causes of frequent jail usage, and further understand jail cost drivers. 

 In other words:

Describing jail usage will lead to what causes frequent jail usage, which will lead to understanding jail cost drivers, which will lead to an understanding of jail cost savings

This paper addresses the first step in the above process by identifying frequent jail users and describing the mental illness and homelessness rates within this subset.  

The paper also describes and addresses the challenges of a stunted statistical understanding in this field.  Reasons for this stunted growth can include a lack of database and data tracking capacity in a local government setting, a lack of data analytic knowledge and resources, and lack of external cooperation to measure this community-wide problem.  While most of the applicable data lies in the hands of local governments, in this case at the County level, priorities for dataset creation can be low.  What’s more, a full understanding of the picture of this intersection requires data sharing support from community homelessness providers and mental health service providers.  Add to this HIPAA requirements and privacy concerns, and the result is a field of understanding at the descriptive stage. 

The paper further describes the dangers and missed opportunities in not fully understanding this intersection.  For example, risk assessment tools with a blanket application may not be valid for this subpopulation, and may be misapplied.  Misapplication of risk assessment tools can result in the wrong jail inmate receiving wrong jail programming or missing out on reentry services, meaning a greater likelihood to recidivate, ultimately resulting in higher costs.   

This paper will numerically describe the intersection between frequent jail usage, homelessness, and mental health issues in Maricopa County, AZ.  It will also address the measurement challenges this field faces, while recognizing the importance of such an understanding, not just for cost savings in terms of jail usage, but for reduced recidivism and changed lives.