Feasibility of a pretrial diversion pilot in Kent County, Rhode Island

Abstract

Background The U.S. correctional population is disproportionately burdened with chronic health conditions, particularly mental health and substance use disorders. Though inmates receive health care, linkages to care upon release are often poor or nonexistent. Further, the magnitude of the justiceinvolved population strains state and Federal finances. The annual cost per offender awaiting trial in Rhode Island is approximately $40,000. A diversion program (an alternative sentence diverting from incarceration and offering potential relief to courts and better outcomes for offenders) with linkages to health care has the potential to reduce costs by addressing the underlying physical, mental, and behavioral health issues keeping individuals in the justice system. We describe a diversion pilot program and our observations thus far. In partnership with Brown University and The Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights, Justice Assistance, a nonprofit organization in Cranston, Rhode Island, received support from the Rhode Island General Assembly to develop a program to reduce the Rhode Island awaiting population by linking participants to community-based health care. The pilot program developed, Office of Community Alternatives (OCA), tests an intensive case management model. MAPIT (Motivational Assessment Program to Initiate Treatment) is an Internetbased motivational interviewing program piloted as a component of the OCA program.