SJC Exchange Library

Policy Research Associates (PRA) released publications about frequent jail contact. PRA conducted a mixed-methods research study using administrative records, virtual and in-person site visits, and interviews with practitioners and people with lived experience in three SJC sites-Harris County, Texas, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and Pennington County, South Dakota. This study sought to track the flow of people with frequent jail contact, assess the various strategies used by sites to reduce jail contact, and investigate outcomes, especially for People of Color and people with behavioral health conditions.

Key findings include:

• Practitioners did not have specific criteria they used to define people with frequent jail contact. Yet, all practitioners were familiar with this population. Furthermore, sites implemented strategies aimed at reducing jail contact generally, but strategies in the study sites do not specifically target people with frequent contact.
• People with frequent jail contact represent a minority of the population of people booked into county jails but a majority of all bookings. People of Color are disproportionately represented among people with frequent jail contact. People with frequent jail contact often described experiences of profound trauma and issues with homelessness, as well as unmet behavioral health needs.
• Diversion strategies may improve outcomes for people with frequent jail contact, but they also implicate the need for strong community-based resources to support the success of people with behavioral health conditions.
• People with frequent jail contact typically have complicated behavioral health needs, and often face systemic and personal obstacles such as poverty and housing insecurity-conditions that can be addressed with individualized, person-centered care and treatment plans.

In addition to a technical report (attached), PRA produced multiple publications including a policy brief, site-specific fact sheets providing an overview of demographic and jail data, site-specific graphic representations of findings and major themes from interviews with people with lived experience, and a podcast episode. Click here for access to these publications.