Understanding the Population of People with Frequent Jail Contact was mixed-methods project that examined the flow of people with frequent jail contact through the criminal legal system across three counties in the United States. The project assessed the counties’ strategies to reduce frequent jail contact, especially the impact that those strategies had on People of Color and people with behavioral health conditions.
Through their analysis, the authors developed the following recommendations:
- Create a data sharing ecosystem
- Establish formal, jurisdiction-specific definitions
- Use validated behavioral health screening tools
- Implement psychiatric advanced directives
- Facilitate jail in-reach programs
- Increase peer support programs
- Improve access to housing
- Increase utilization of community-based services
- Center and evaluate efforts for racial equity
To highlight and provide context for these recommendations, Policy Research has assembled a microsite that houses the following resources:
- Policy brief, which provides additional context for the recommendations provided above.
- County-specific fact sheets, which provide demographic information and trends in bookings over time.
- County-specific graphic recording notes, which provide excerpts from interviews conducted during this research study.
- Podcast episode, which dives into the research and offers key takeaways that can be put into action.
(HTML, External Link)
This resource was first shared in 2023.