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Abstract: 

“There’s a lot of lessons that were learned—I mean, first and foremost, you don’t bring someone to jail for mental health treatment. You bring them to a mental health facility.” Those were the words of Sheriff Stacey Kinkaid of Fairfax County, Virginia after Natasha McKenna, an inmate with mental illness, was killed in February 2015 while allegedly in restraints. Ms. McKenna, whose mental health history and recent deterioration was known to the justice system, was reportedly physically resisting deputies’ commands. Now a new pilot program with Medicaid, enabled by passage of the Excellence in Mental Health Act of 2014, will create community mental health clinics capable of delivering the type of crisis services that the Fairfax County Jail was unable to.

Keywords: Excellence in Mental Health Act; Medicaid; crisis intervention care; Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics

Affiliations:  1: Community Oriented Correctional Health Services; 2: Community Oriented Correctional Health Services.