Parole and probation officer Brandon Wyllie helps parolees and probationers make the transition to life on the outside.

But Wyllie has a unique task: His caseload consists entirely of those with mental health disorders.

“A large majority of the offenders I support have broken spirits,” said Wyllie, who connects released offenders with local services such as housing and treatment. “Much of what I do is be there to listen.”

Wyllie, who at any given time handles about 50 cases, is a member of the multidisciplinary Deschutes County Crisis Intervention Team, which works together to implement mental health awareness training.

Now, Wyllie and other law enforcement in Deschutes County could get more funding from the state to help the mentally ill who find themselves in the criminal justice system.

Rob Bovett, counsel for the Association of Oregon Counties, is part of a team drafting legislation establishing a Mental Health Justice Reinvestment Program to increase local funding for diversion services like those provided by Deschutes County.

Bovett said that mental health needs are being recognized by agencies statewide. “We went around the state and conducted a series of public safety summits, and this was one of the common themes that we were hearing consistently from local health officials as well as (district attorneys),” said Bovett.

In drafting the bill, Bovett is drawing on his experience as counsel for Lincoln County and as its district attorney. “I saw in both of these experiences a lot of people in the criminal justice system that were there primarily because of mental health problems,” he said. “In many counties the mental health facility is the county jail, and that’s not the way it should be.”

Under Oregon law, the state must set aside people who are mentally unfit to stand trial in a state facility. “It’s not just our jails that are overloaded with mentally ill folks,” said Bovett. “It’s our state hospitals as well.”

The legislation, scheduled to be submitted for review in the upcoming legislative session in Salem, is modeled on a 2013 Oregon law, the Justice Reinvestment Act , said Bovett. That act, Bovett said, diverted money that would have been spent on incarceration for certain felony offenses to programs that seek to reduce recidivism.

The Mental Health Justice Reinvestment Program would take a similar approach, he said, by putting funds toward local prevention and treatment services instead of building more state facilities to house the mentally ill. Bovett is working with law enforcement, mental health experts, advocates for the mentally ill and service providers to write the bill.

In 2013, the Oregon Legislature approved nearly $40 million to go to local mental health service providers statewide. The proposed Mental Health Justice Reinvestment Act is different in that it would establish funding specifically for county mental health services within the realm of criminal justice — which could include mental health courts, crisis intervention training and transitional housing.

Transitional housing is high on Wyllie’s list of county needs. Wyllie said many people released from prison in Deschutes County have been forbidden from returning to local shelters due to prior poor conduct.

As CIT coordinator, Eilene Flory uses her nearly 20 years of experience in behavioral health to train law enforcement to recognize the signs of psychosis. Over the past few years, she said she’s seen dramatic change in both the local demand for and supply of services. The CIT has been in place since 2010, Wyllie said.

“It’s been my experience that as the population overall grows, (the mentally ill) population also grows,” Flory said. And now that more police officers are trained to recognize the signs of crisis, they’re coding those encounters as such.

“They may have thought it was alcohol, or they may have coded it as something different,” such as a domestic violence call, before they were trained, she said. Now police officers know how to have the person evaluated, to connect them with resources and to work with families, Flory said.

Flory estimated about 30 percent of Bend Police, about 20 percent of sheriff’s deputies — including corrections officers — and about 10 percent of the Redmond Police force have completed the one-time 40-hour crisis intervention course, which includes presentations from the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Deschutes County Behavioral Health. Officers can attend refresher courses, and she said the team is developing advanced courses. Wyllie said the courses primarily focus on recognition and de-escalation techniques.

Although mental health services are growing more robust, according to local law enforcement, needs persist. A juvenile treatment facility and a treatment dorm in the jail would be welcome.

If the legislation passes, Deschutes County law enforcement could have more treatment spaces and training on hand to prevent the mentally ill from entering jail in the first place. The Deschutes County jail, to some extent, acts as a de facto treatment center for some inmates.

Lisa Rosen is one of two full-time behavioral health specialists at the jail. She cannot assess inmates, but can provide counseling and resources. She sees jail time as an “opportunity to help them become good, productive citizens,” where inmates who need help have stable housing and three meals a day, and don’t have access to illegal drugs or alcohol. With these needs met, inmates, including those with mental health disorders, can take a step back and have a chance to make positive, enduring change, Rosen said.

Deschutes County Sheriff’s Capt. Shane Nelson oversees jail operations and has been with the department since 1994. “We have seen an increase in people with mental health issues,” he said. He said a majority of inmates have a mental health condition of some kind, and those conditions often co-occur with substance abuse.

Over time, said Nelson, the jail has addressed growing mental health needs by providing programs that acknowledge mental health challenges while encouraging accountability. The jail’s work crew, kitchen duty and GED classes are all opportunities for inmates to improve self-esteem and their prospects after incarceration, he said. As of Monday, 989 out of 1,802 eligible inmates — an inmate must be booked for more than 48 hours in order to qualify — this year had participated in one or more of these programs, Nelson said. The jail’s recent expansion includes increased space for mental health treatment and monitoring.

The behavioral health specialists at the jail also make referrals to mental health court, a diversion program designed for defendants in criminal cases with mental health diagnoses. It has graduated 84 people since its inception in 2002.

Around 80 percent of cases have been dismissed after the court has pursued “open-minded and creative solutions” that move the emphasis away from jail time and toward treatment, Deputy District Attorney Brandi Shroyer said.

The court itself seems to reflect how mental health services are taking shape in the county, from its streets, to jail, to court and back again.

“One of the neatest things about mental health court is that it opens the treatment door for people,” said Shroyer. “The idea is that you build a network.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0376, cwithycombe@bendbulletin.com