Stratton in News Articles Regarding Gov. DeWine’s Remarks on Mental Illness and Ohio’s Criminal Justice System

Eve Stratton, of counsel in the Vorys Columbus office who prior to joining Vorys was a justice on the Supreme Court of Ohio, was featured in a Hannah Report article and a Columbus Dispatch article on an announcement made by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine about a to be created working group on co-occurring mental illness and criminal justice involvement.  The goal of the group will be to address the significant number of convicted individuals in state hospitals.

The Columbus Dispatch story states:

“Evelyn Stratton, a former Ohio Supreme Court justice who leads Stepping Up, said the state lacks places to take people experiencing mental health crises so they often end up in jails.

Jails need to provide medication assisted treatment for those suffering from opiate withdrawals, psychotropic drugs and therapy for people and train guards in crisis intervention techniques, she said.

Stratton said jails need to link people to services, such as Medicaid, before they are released and communities need to build out more supportive housing so people have stable places to live.

She agrees with the governor that existing state hospital beds need to be more available. Her answer is to shift to outpatient treatment for many of the people being restored to competency before standing trial.”

To read the Columbus Dispatch story, click here (subscription may be required).  To read the Hannah Report story, click here (subscription may be required).