07/03/2026
We had a very good meeting yesterday to get updates on the iHope program that was started a little over 3 months ago in the Peach and Crawford jails. We are shaping a jail in-reach program through the iHope organization to help individuals in custody get back into the community as quickly, safely, and responsibly as possible.
This program involves both Sheriff Departments, Fort Valley Police Dept. Byron Police Dept., District Attorney, Public Defender, Magistrate Court, Peach/Crawford Accountability Court, Probate Court, community supervision, and Middle Flint Health and Wellness (county mental health services provider). iHope is a peer based organization of individuals that went through this themselves and they work with individuals in the jail to identify the barriers, coordinate services, and connect an individual with the resources needed to give them a stronger re-entry trac back into the community and a better shot at staying on track once released.
The state has given local communities very little guidance since the DOJ and state shut down Georgia’s mental health institutions, and moved mental healthcare out into local communities and into our jails. This left individuals that meet the exact same criteria vulnerable, as well as their families and caused massive amounts of issues with crisis medical, law enforcement, and turned local jails into mental health holding places without the professional staffing that institutions had.
Even though this is a trial run for the jails, it could really help with individuals, families, and law enforcement that have been given very few guardrails to help ones with chronic mental health issues that are released back into the community, quite often with no planning or help. One of the biggest accomplishments so far is getting all points of contact communicating with each other. Thanks to iHope, Peach and Crawford Sheriff Departments, Jail staff and everyone else that is rolling up their sleeves to work on this project!