A mental health center's influence in a county jail

A case study that describes the process of establishing mental health services in the medium-sized Howard County (Maryland) jail is presented. Built in 1878, the county jail provided virtually no rehabilitative services to its inmates until 1972. At that time, personnel from the Howard County Bureau of Mental Health began to gain access to the jail, establish rapport with the jail staff, assess the mental health needs of the inmates, and implement various programs to meet these needs. Implementation and development of services are described for the 12-year span between 1972 and 1984. The concept of providing community-based services has been accepted and incorporated into the value system and structure of the jail. It is concluded that the viability of programs depended upon interactions among continuation of strong leadership for each component of the rehabilitation program, acceptance of the value of these services by the jail administration and staff, and availability of community resources. The linkage between the jail and community agencies is discussed.