A Model for Jail Diversion for Individuals with Severe Mental Illness

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

Olive View-UCLA Medical Center is a safety-net, teaching hospital operated by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and affiliated with the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. OVMC provides a full array of health and mental health services including emergency psychiatric care and adult inpatient psychiatric treatment. In July 2018, OVMC opened an 18-bed inpatient psychiatric unit specifically focused on the treatment of patients enrolled in Los Angeles County’s Office of Diversion & Re-entry (ODR) program, a unique initiative that identifies patients with severe mental illness who are incarcerated and transfers them to an acute treatment setting for clinical stabilization. Since its inauguration, over 400 men and women have been diverted from the Los Angeles County jails to OVMC, where they have received state-of-the-art psychiatric interventions and transitioned to continuing treatment, rehabilitation, and housing services in the community. This program has served as a model for jail diversion programs throughout the United States.