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Top officials seek answers in Va. mental health crisis

Richmond Times-Dispatch - 12/5/2016

PORTSMOUTH - The facilities accused of negligence in the death of a jail inmate outlined on Friday changes made to improve the way they operate, but top state officials said Virginia is far from fixing its mental health and criminal justice systems.

Jamycheal Mitchell, an accused petty thief who wasted away and died in custody, and the plight of thousands like him who are mentally ill and in jail were discussed at length in a landmark meeting that included the secretaries of health and public safety, elected officials and officials with multiple state and local agencies.

The meeting took place at Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Portsmouth, where Mitchell was housed before he died in August 2015 of extreme weight loss and heart problems. The bipolar and schizophrenic man had been at the jail for 101 days after allegedly stealing $5 in snack food from a convenience store near his home.

Separately Friday, the office of Portsmouth Commonwealth's Attorney Stephanie Morales said the Virginia State Police have wrapped up an investigation into Mitchell's death. Morales now will review the evidence and decide whether to file charges.

The jail has denied wrongdoing, but its former top administrators are among about three dozen defendants in a $60 million wrongful death lawsuit filed in May in federal court by Mitchell's family.

If adequate community services had been available to help Mitchell stay on his medicine and out of jail, he might still be alive, and Friday's meeting at the jail probably would not have taken place, said Bill Hazel, Virginia's secretary of health and human resources.

"The need to sit down together given all that's happened here and the finger-pointing and back-and-forth - finger-pointing is counterproductive to solving problems," Hazel said after the meeting.

The state needs to have collaborative discussions, such as the one held Friday, to solve the problem, Hazel said.

The meeting provided officials a chance to continue their drumbeat for what they see as necessary reforms to the state's mental health system - more funding, better and faster services, more communication, the creation of mental health dockets in the court system - but in a venue that allowed stakeholders from dozens of agencies to collaborate and ask questions.

Hazel said he couldn't recall a meeting in recent history that included representatives from as many agencies in one place discussing mental health and public safety issues.

Hampton Roads Regional Jail and Eastern State Hospital, two of the facilities at the heart of the lawsuit filed by Mitchell's family, explained changes they've made in the past few years.

Norfolk Sheriff Robert McCabe, who took over as interim superintendent of the regional jail after the former top administrator retired early, said the facility has improved communication and oversight.

It also has rearranged its medical facility to make it easier for doctors and nurses to see more inmates. The number of sick calls has increased 25 to 30 percent in the past 45 days.

Linda Bryant, the newly hired assistant superintendent, said the jail also does a better job of moving inmates through who may not belong there - whether to state mental hospitals or to Department of Corrections prisons.

Eastern State Hospital, where Mitchell was supposed to be transferred but wasn't because of clerical errors, has a slate of new employees who feel a sense of urgency to work more quickly and efficiently, said Frank Gallagher, the hospital's top administrator.

The waiting list of inmates who need to be transferred to the hospital has decreased, as has the amount of time most patients stay at the hospital, Gallagher said.

Brian J. Moran, secretary of public safety and homeland security, said the jail and hospital are addressing their own "acute" problems, but the entire system needs to be addressed statewide.

Too many people with mental illness are winding up behind bars, Moran and others said.

"The bigger picture is what do we do to keep people from coming here?" said Joe Scislowicz, executive director of Chesapeake's community services board, Chesapeake Integrated Behavioral Healthcare. "We have to keep in mind that rather than try to pluck the baby out of the river, we have to find out who's throwing them in, so if we could do more of that kind of thinking that would be helpful."

Joe Flores, deputy secretary of health and human resources, strongly urged lawmakers to consider expanding Medicaid in Virginia because it would help the mental health system solve some of its funding problems.

On Thursday, state Sen. William M. Stanley Jr., R-Franklin County, the Senate Republican whip, said "Medicaid expansion is not coming back."

Even still, Moran said, if the state cannot find money in its $18 billion general fund budget for adequate mental health services, "that says a lot about us."

skleiner@timesdispatch.com

(804) 649-6601

Twitter: @sarahkleiner9