Inspired by the “Miami model” in Florida — where Miami-Dade County has been diverting nonviolent people with mental illness away from jails and into mental health facilities — Utah state, city and county leaders are taking the next steps to put a plan into action.
The mastermind behind the “Miami model,” former Judge Steven Leifman, sat next to Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, and the state’s homelessness coordinator, Tyler Clancy, at the Utah Capitol on Tuesday to brief reporters on what they’ve been working on, based on earlier recommendations by Leifman.
For three days this week — starting with a closed-door meeting earlier Tuesday also attended by Gov. Spencer Cox, who threw his support behind the effort — state, city and county officials said in a news release they’ll be launching new workgroups and holding “executive team and stakeholder meetings” to implement the plan while drawing on expertise from law enforcement, the courts, behavioral health providers and other community organizations.
Leifman said his group’s recommendations aren’t just focused on diverting people from homelessness and incarceration — but rather “modernizing” behavioral health services to help people experiencing mental health crises. He said while the U.S. shuttered state mental hospitals, focused on “crime and drugs” and “massively cut housing,” people experiencing mental illness “got thrown into communities … that just were not built for them.”…