The sheriff's departments from the 7th Judicial District including Delta, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Montrose, Ouray, and San Miguel counties, in partnership with the Center for Mental Health, have been awarded funding from the State of Colorado to provide jail-based behavioral health services to inmates while they are incarcerated. With a positive screen for substance abuse, inmates from all six counties will be eligible for services under this program.

Statewide, there were 15 applications with 10 awards. The award for this area of $209,000 per year for five years was the second largest award in the state. Delta County Sheriff Fred McKee is the project director.

Dollars will go toward the cost of screening and treating inmates who screen positive for substance use, co-occurring mental health disorders, traumatic brain injury, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Once the inmate is released from jail, treatments will continue through the Center for Mental Health; however, grant funds cannot be used for community-based therapy.

The Center for Mental Health will have full-time therapists on site at each of the Delta and Montrose County jails and part-time therapists in the Gunnison and San Miguel County jails. There will be a full-time care coordinator hired to provide care for inmates in the Montrose and Delta jails and to ensure that wrap-around care is available upon the inmate's release. Care coordination will be a part of the therapists' responsibilities in the Gunnison and San Miguel jails.

Savings created from shorter sentences for crimes involving substance abuse fund this program. Nationwide, 82.2 percent of inmates have a substance abuse issue and 55 percent have a mental health issue.

The State of Colorado is expecting that this therapy-based program will help people recover from their addictions and co-occurring mental illnesses so that recidivism is less likely which will ultimately save money for the state.