Stratton Quoted in Times Reporter Story Titled “Local, State Efforts Aim to Reduce Number of Mentally Ill in Jails and Prisons”

Eve Stratton, of counsel in the Vorys Columbus office who prior to joining Vorys served as justice on the Supreme Court of Ohio for 16 years, was quoted in a New Philadelphia Times Reporter story titled “Local, State Efforts Aim to Reduce Number of Mentally Ill in Jails and Prisons.”  The story focused on the Stepping Up initiative, which aims to reduce the number of mentally ill people in jails and prisons.

The story states:

“Leading the meeting was retired Ohio Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, who is director of Stepping Up Ohio.

She said her interest in the intersection of mental illness and the criminal justice system developed after she became a common pleas judge in Franklin County.

‘I was putting people in jail thinking that they would get treatment because I didn't know any better,’ she said.

Mentally ill people tend to spend more time incarcerated compared to other people convicted of the same offense, she said. And once in jail or prison, they are not likely to get the services they need.

Stratton cited statistics from a report released in 2015 about a yearlong study of mentally ill people in the Franklin County jail. The report said 7 percent of people booked into the jail had been treated for a serious mental illness and 25 percent had been treated for alcohol or drug use.

About 60 percent of those with a serious mental illness returned to the Franklin County jail within three years, compared with 51 percent for those who were not mentally ill, according to the report. The mentally ill stayed in jail an average of 32 days, compared with 20 days for other inmates.”

To read the entire story, visit the Time Reporter website.