Photo of the Huntsman Mental Health Institute in Research Park, Salt Lake City, November 4, 2019. Gene Welch, director of Salt Lake County’s new criminal justice initiative, said Hill said the criminal justice system should focus more on rehabilitation than punishment. (Steve Griffin, Deseret News)
Estimated duration: 6-7 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Gene Welch Hill has been advocating for solutions to end homelessness and prevent gun violence for years. Now, as the new director of the Office of the Salt Lake County Criminal Justice Initiative, Hill is at the forefront of this issue.
Hill continues to push for greater collaboration among government agencies at the city, county and state levels working together to find solutions. Issues such as homelessness, crime and mental health are often linked, she said, and it will take a great deal of effort from all parties to make significant progress in the right direction.
“Homelessness is not an isolated problem,” Hill said. “Crime doesn’t happen in isolation. There are reasons why crime happens and reasons why homelessness happens. A lot of those reasons are also related to mental health issues. and I look forward to further progress.”
Hill took over the county after working for years as director of the Office of Life, Justice and Peace for the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City. He also serves on the Board of the Salt Lake County Criminal Justice Advisory Board, which is made up of elected officials.
Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson said, “One of Salt Lake County’s most pressing problems is advancing solutions that enable individuals to succeed through homelessness, mental health, and the criminal justice system.” We have a lot of work to do, but Gene is doing more than that.”
Wilson said the criminal justice system is “as complex a system as the county deals with” thanks to the intersection of homelessness, drug use and mental health. However, she said they try not to be overly punitive, especially for offenders who suffer from substance abuse or severe mental illness.
End of cycle
Hill is fully aware of the need for balance within the criminal justice system and believes more needs to be done to address the root causes of homelessness and mental illness. For most people, poverty and lack of access to basic needs can lead to crime and life in prisons and prisons, making it even more difficult to find work and secure housing.
She believes that a different approach would not only help criminals, but also improve public safety in the long run by keeping people out of desperate situations that could sometimes lead to crime.
“Some of the things we’re looking at right now are to better serve individuals who have serious mental health problems, people who can’t and shouldn’t serve time in prison. It’s about figuring out how to do it, but it’s also doing some things that pose public safety issues,” she said. “A lot of work is being done to address what happens when someone gets out of prison and has no home to return to. Can it be prevented?”
“In doing so, in the process of stopping that cycle, we can also stop some of the crimes that are inherently poverty-based,” she continued. Can we help meet people’s needs so they don’t commit crimes?”
The state has already taken significant steps toward this end, Hill said. The so-called “blank slate” method, went into effect earlier this year, allowing many people who have committed minor crimes to have their records automatically erased. This ensures that people aren’t “permanently punished for the silly things they may have done when they were younger…so it doesn’t make them any less likely to succeed in the future.,” she said. .
Hill acknowledged that crime is often a political issue, but much of the conversation is irrelevant and often fails to consider solutions that don’t involve long prison sentences for offenders. She disagreed with this approach for the most part, saying these solutions ignored the fact that prisons often do not provide true rehabilitation.
“It’s very easy to come up with prejudices about homelessness and criminal justice that don’t work,” she said. , imprisonment may seem to work quickly, but in the long run, imprisonment is not the solution for anyone, because the majority of people in prison are getting out of prison, so public And if we just punish them, they won’t be ready to come out of those facilities and suddenly become a different person.
Hill said he wanted people to focus less on punishment as a goal, because the goal should be to “restore the person and the community they hurt.”
More Options for Criminals, Law Enforcement
The Salt Lake County Legislature took a big step of its own this week, allocating $2.5 million in federal funds from the U.S. Rescue Plans Act to fund a temporary mental health reception center at the Huntsman Institute of Mental Health. I got
State Rep. Steve Eliasson, R-Sandy, spoke to the council on Tuesday before approving the funds. He said it’s one of the most bipartisan issues he’s tackled while on Capitol, as nearly everyone on both sides of Congress has been affected by mental health at some point in their lives. rice field.
Salt Lake County Jail has the largest population of people with mental illness in the state, he added.
“For too long, people with mental illness have been relegated to two options: prison or the emergency room,” Eliasson said.
The temporary reception center is scheduled to open in April 2023 and will operate until the new Chem and Carolyn Gardner Mental Health Crisis Care Centers are completed in the fall of 2024. Going through a mental health crisis for which professional help is available.
“The county has been designated a mental health authority by the state, and we run prisons, so this is a good fit,” said County Assembly Member Amy Winder-Newton. Not only will it improve health outcomes, but it will save taxpayers dollars in the long run.”
what’s next?
Hill praised funding for temporary reception centers, but acknowledged that much work still needs to be done in the long term. I believe there is much work to be done.
Over the next few years, she hopes to find more solutions to make healthcare and housing accessible to more people.
“Ultimately, the ideal would be to have specialized facilities that can meet the specific needs of those who do not have such treatment options or safe and secure housing options,” Hill said. Ultimately, we want to build inclusive systems to move people out of these systems because they have the skills and abilities they need to function better in our society.”
