Full Text of SR1824 99th General Assembly
SR1824 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has been a strong proponent | 3 | | for necessary reforms to the criminal justice system and an | 4 | | advocate for successful re-entry of returning citizens to their | 5 | | communities; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, The prison population is disproportionately | 7 | | comprised of African-American and Latino persons, with one in | 8 | | every 13 African-American males in the United States aged 30 to | 9 | | 34 incarcerated or imprisoned in 2011 and one in 36 Latino | 10 | | males incarcerated; by comparison, one in every 90 white males | 11 | | of the same age group were incarcerated; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, African-American and Latino women were 2.5 times | 13 | | more likely and 1.4 times more likely respectively, to be | 14 | | incarcerated than their white counterparts; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, The expenses of incarceration account for a | 16 | | substantial amount of almost every state's budget, an expense | 17 | | which is ultimately borne by a state's taxpayers; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, | 19 | | more than half of those incarcerated in the United States have | 20 | | mental health issues; mentally-ill incarcerated or imprisoned | 21 | | adults are also disproportionately abused, beaten, and raped; |
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| 2 | | WHEREAS, Enhanced mental health training for law | 3 | | enforcement personnel and the use of diversion programs will | 4 | | reduce arrest rates by de-escalating mental health crisis | 5 | | situations; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Effectively treating inmates' physical and mental | 7 | | health illnesses improves their well-being and can reduce the | 8 | | likelihood that their condition will deteriorate, that they | 9 | | will commit new crimes, violate their parole, or return to | 10 | | prison; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, The ability of offenders with serious mental | 12 | | illness to obtain appropriate health care services upon release | 13 | | from prison is essential to reducing recidivism rates; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, Prisoners with serious mental illness who have | 15 | | their Medicaid coverage canceled rather than suspended upon | 16 | | incarceration face delays in access to essential health care | 17 | | benefits upon their release of two to three months; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services | 19 | | encourages states to suspend rather than terminate Medicaid | 20 | | eligibility to limit long delays in accessing health care | 21 | | benefits and services upon release from prison; therefore, be |
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| 2 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL | 3 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge all federal, | 4 | | State, and county legislators and officials to consider and | 5 | | enact policies to enhance access to mental health services at | 6 | | multiple levels in the criminal justice system which will | 7 | | create better results for both the individual and the system; | 8 | | and be it further
| 9 | | RESOLVED, That we support a wide range of programs to | 10 | | improve mental health treatment for individuals involved in the | 11 | | criminal justice system aimed to aid communities to end | 12 | | recidivism; and be it further | 13 | | RESOLVED, That we urge the law enforcement community to | 14 | | consider the integration of mental health treatment and | 15 | | services such as crisis intervention teams into the criminal | 16 | | justice system spectrum, in an effort to address mental health | 17 | | crisis situations and to reduce arrest rates; and be it further | 18 | | RESOLVED, That we call upon all states and the federal | 19 | | government to examine the costs and benefits of suspending | 20 | | Medicaid coverage instead of termination of coverage for | 21 | | individuals in the criminal justice system and to allow | 22 | | Medicaid coverage to be suspended for incarcerated persons |
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| 1 | | instead of being terminated; and be it further | 2 | | RESOLVED, That we call upon the states and the federal | 3 | | government to consider promising criminal justice | 4 | | interventions and policies for mentally-ill offenders such as | 5 | | diversion programs and mental health courts to send seriously | 6 | | mentally ill offenders to community-based mental health | 7 | | treatment programs instead of prison or jail; and be it further | 8 | | RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be delivered to | 9 | | the President and Vice President of the United States, the | 10 | | members of the Illinois congressional delegation, and other | 11 | | federal and state government officials and agencies as | 12 | | appropriate.
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