Iowa City, Iowa, recently won Amazon’s 2017 City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge Mid-size City Dream Big Award for Johnson County’s efforts to divert individuals with a mental illness from the criminal justice system and improve law enforcement interactions with these individuals.

Iowa City has implemented a 40-hour crisis intervention training to teach law enforcement better methods of interacting with individuals with mental illnesses. Officers and emergency responders learn how to safely de-escalate and resolve situations. Many Iowa counties also utilize Mobile Crisis Outreach Teams. These groups are comprised of trained mental health professionals who respond to these situations involving mentally ill individuals and work alongside law enforcement to effectively resolve the scene.

The Iowa County Magazine focusing on Jail Diversion reports that many Iowa counties have instituted crisis stabilization centers. These centers provide support and treatment for individuals with mental health issues and serve as an alternative to prison or a psychiatric hospital.

A report from Disability Rights Iowa entitled “In Jail and Out of Options” explained that for individuals with a mental illness that do reside in jail, Iowa City has developed “Post-booking” programs. The report revealed how these programs “largely focus on connecting mentally ill inmates with community resources and treatment when they are released from jail, in the hope that treatment will stabilize the individual and they will not reenter the criminal justice system."

Iowa City extends its support for these individuals after they are released from prison. It’s post-release programs assist individuals with mental health issues after they are discharged in an effort to prevent a relapse into the system. They provide access to consistent mental health treatment, medications, housing, transportation. and other beneficial resources.

Due to Iowa City’s efforts, Amazon awarded the city $25,000 worth of cloud services to expand their post-booking jail diversion programs. Amazon Web Services explains how “they will use inter-departmental data to predict and identify populations that would benefit from a pre-jail diversion program, better understand infrastructure costs, where to increase efficiencies, and use the data to show improved outcomes.”

“They will also use the data to identify high utilizers of law enforcement, emergency medical services, emergency room, and jail services. This population will be provided with proactive mental health and substance abuse treatment to reduce recidivism and minimize their interaction with these services,” Amazon notes. 

Get funding for your tech innovations

This initiative was part of the Global City Teams Challenge developed by ICMA partner the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Communities are able to access a variety of funding sources to develop technology solutions in partnership with other jurisdictions, private sector partners, and non-profit organizations. This project and others will be featured at the GCTC Expo in Washington, DC, August 28 and 29.