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The Center Collaborative

Creative Solutions in Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice

From the Oregon Center on Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice, this series shines a light on partnerships that are moving the dial, leading to better solutions and outcomes for people who may become involved with the justice system due to experiencing behavioral health, intellectual/developmental disabilities, or neurocognitive concerns.

We talk with guests representing prominent voices from government, the judicial system, public safety, healthcare, and the broader community throughout metropolitan and rural parts of Oregon.

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  2. #27 Clackamas County teamwork shrinks competency wait times

#27 Clackamas County teamwork shrinks competency wait times

Aug 10, 2022

Captain Lee Eby, Clackamas County Jail Commander; Cierra Brown, owner of the Metro Law Group and Member of the CIDC Consortium; and Dr. Alexander Millkey PsyD, Northwest Forensic Institute, discuss Clackamas County’s Rapid Process for “in-house” fitness evaluations:

  • This collaborative venture was born out of necessity after recognizing a 1,000% increase in individuals with SPMI being seen in the jail with a need for forensic evaluations to determine fitness to proceed.
  • Previous processes proved to be entirely too lengthy, and resulted in mental health decompensation because of the individual sitting in jail for too long, often on a low level violation, or misdemeanor crime.
  • The communication process between jail staff, defense, and medical/forensic creates a “frictionless environment.”
  • The collaborative nature of this process highlights the “inefficiencies in business as usual.” (Capt. Eby) It’s easy to find the inefficiencies once people start working together, and can solve those visible problems - like reaching low-hanging fruit.
  • The model includes giving Cierra Brown a jail access card after going through training.  Having unfettered access to the jail continues the open-door policy and makes the flow of communication more efficient. 
  • The judge is appointing Cierra Brown to cases with a mental health component from the bench. She can go to the jail to see clients, which removes transportation barriers, and she can request referrals for evaluation in the jail. 
  • This process has cut down the time from arrest to evaluation from 37 days to 6.35.
  • It decreases the risk from transporting a person with significant mental health conditions from the jail to be evaluated and back again, saving costs for transportation and staff time.


For more information about the intersection between criminal justice and behavioral health in Oregon, please reach out to us through our website at http://www.ocbhji.org/podcast and Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/OCBHJI/. We’d love to hear from you.



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