Committee insists on mental health and substance abuse screenings



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Conducting intensive mental health and addiction screenings for people entering Utah County prisons has been identified as a top priority for state officials several years ago.

But the standard-examiner reports that the money is exhausted and lawmakers are now looking for ways to find more funds.

According to the Deputy Director of the Utah Criminal Justice and Mining Commission, Dave Walsh, the state spent $ 2.5 million in 2016 for an intensive program of filtering entries into prisons which helped the counties to improve the revisions during the booking process.

But funding for this program has been reduced to about $ 800,000 in the most recent year.

The Advisory Council on Substance Abuse in Utah, a working group of lawmakers set up to look at substance abuse in prison, met earlier this week to clarify any proposals that may be forthcoming. to be submitted to the legislature for consideration at the 2019 session.

The working group will meet again on Wednesday to finalize the recommendations.

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