Miranda Alam/Special to The Sun
The common area of cell block 2AGB, close mental health custody, is seen at the Clark County Detention Center in downtown Las Vegas on Wednesday, May 16, 2018.
Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018 | 8 p.m.
Metro Police and the county jail will have an additional $700,000 in their coffers to combat over-incarceration, officials announced Wednesday.
The grant was awarded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which chose 13 jurisdictions across the U.S. to distribute $148 million as part of the Safety and Justice Challenge, Metro Police said.
The additional funds are to be used “to continue building on efforts to reform the local criminal justice system and safely reduce Clark County’s jail population … by changing the way America thinks about and uses jails.”
This isn’t the only effort employed by county officials to combat overpopulation. Like many jails across the country, the Clark County Detention Center has become the largest mental health facility in the valley, officials have said. About a quarter of its population is treated for mental illness.
In May, the facility participated in the “Stepping Up: A Day of Action” awareness campaign in which officials gave a presentation on how many inmates with mental health issues are susceptible to re-offend. Officials detailed how their short stays at the jail for minor offenses can exacerbate their symptoms.
The agency has participated in that campaign since 2015 and is involved in searching for solutions to break that cycle, officials said.
Since Clark County also joined the Safety and Justice Challenge last year, funding from the MacArthur Foundation became available to implement an “Initial Appearance Court,” which aims to fast track inmates to be in front of a judge within 12 hours of first being booked, police said.
The foundation aims for the grant to fund improved “case processing efficiency, enhanced data collection and electronic distribution of arrest documentation to the court and district attorney” with the goal of reducing jail population by 20 percent in the next couple of years, Metro said.
More information on the latest grant can be viewed at safetyandjusticechallenge.org.
