Note: Grant projects began July 1, 2015 and conclude at the end of the three-year award cycle (June 30, 2018)
For adult projects, San Luis Obispo County received $950,000:
San Luis Obispo County ($950,000). The San Luis Obispo project will implement a collaborative and multidisciplinary program designed to provide for a Behavioral Health clinician at pre-trial to screen mentally ill offenders as they are being sentenced to provide an alternative to incarceration, in-custody evidence-based treatment services, increased capacity within the community clinic to provide walk-in medication and screening appointments for post-release offenders in order to provide an immediate and seamless reentry of the client into the community. In-custody treatment services include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis, Criminogenic interventions (Moral Reconation Therapy), and trauma-focused treatment (Seeking Safety).
Looking at the 2018 Final Report, SLO County appears to be aggressively integrating with their population.
MIOCR Grant Program At-A-Glance
- A total of $18.8 million of Recidivism Reduction Funds was appropriated for local assistance MIOCR projects.
- State funding was equally divided between adult and juvenile projects.
- Grants are being funded for three (3) years; however, counties were mandated to create, at a minimum, a four-year local plan.
- The four-year plan must include prevention, intervention, supervision, and/or incarceration-based services and strategies to reduce recidivism and increase positive outcomes for mentally ill offenders.
- PC § 6045.4(b) states all projects must match grant dollars at a minimum of 25 percent; however, many counties exceeded this minimum percentage in their original Request for Proposals budget.
- All MIOCR projects were required to submit a Local Evaluation Plan; projects must then submit a Local Evaluation Report at the conclusion of the three-year grant cycle.
- County plans are required to include mental health treatment programs, practices, and strategies that have a demonstrated evidence foundation, and are appropriate and effective correctional interventions for the identified target population.
- MIOCR grant project staff are encouraged to attend training opportunities that will assist in examining project service delivery for perceived inequities and actual disparities that may exist within systems that support the targeted population (reducing racial and ethnic disparity and disproportionality).
For the Final Local Evaluation Report for San Luis Obispo County, it was quite successful.
Did the project work as intended? If not, explain why.
County of San Luis Obispo’s Mentally Ill Offender Crime Reduction(MIOCR) Project was quite successful, managing over a three-year operational period to provide service interventions to 552 distinct participants and demonstrate successful courtroom screenings, complete referrals to ongoing treatment options, in-custody evidence-based treatment services, and demonstrate significant improvements in mental health, addiction recovery, criminal justice, housing and other behavioral outcomes. The project provided medication evaluations and linkage to mental health treatment services in the community for participants with mental health needs, and reduced episodes of criminality and acute behavioral health services. The project achieved its goal of increasing the capacity in San Luis Obispo for evidence-based mental health treatment programs, practices, and strategies to well over 60 individuals per year over a three-year period, total 180 anticipated participants. A total of 552 participants were served in the three-year period or 307% over the anticipated number. The project’s measurable outcomes demonstrate that project services and resources were cost-effective in promoting rehabilitation and reducing recidivism.
Departments that collaborate in SLO County:
-Behavioral Health Department
-County Sheriff’s Office (Jail)
-Superior Court
-Department of Probation