P&A Staff Attorney Receives NAPIL Equal Justice Fellowship To Address
The Criminalization Of People With Mental Illness

Lisa Schatz, a staff attorney with P&A, has been awarded a National Association for Public Interest Law (NAPIL) Equal Justice Fellowship to address the criminalization of people with mental illness. As the nation’s largest postgraduate legal fellowship program, NAPIL has put scores of lawyers to work on some of the nation’s greatest challenges, such as homelessness, access to health care, domestic violence, discrimination in housing, workers’ rights, and children’s health and welfare issues.

While at P&A, Lisa has struggled with the ongoing mistreatment of persons with mental illness in the criminal justice system. In McClendon v. City of Albuquerque, et al., a class action lawsuit challenging the conditions and provision of mental health services at Bernalillo County Detention Center, she has gained valuable insight into the criminalization of persons with mental illness. With the closing of state institutions, the numbers of persons with mental illness in the community that receive inadequate or even no treatment has escalated. Increasingly, persons with mental illness are being warehoused in jails due to conduct that is likely a manifestation of their disability or substance abuse. The challenge has become how to divert persons with mental illness from the criminal justice system into therapeutic community programs.

Under a two-year fellowship, Lisa will be working with the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law in Washington, D.C. As the leading national legal-advocacy organization representing people with mental illness and mental retardation, the Bazelon Center has brought precedent-setting litigation and also worked in the public policy arena to define and uphold the rights of people with mental disabilities and ensure them equal access to health and mental health care, education, housing, and employment.

The goal of the fellowship is to end the unnecessary criminalization of non-violent people with mental illness by ensuring access to effective community-based treatment programs. Lisa will examine mental health courts and other initiatives focused on diversion from jail; conduct outreach to identify potential plaintiffs; research and develop legal theories; litigate two to four individuals cases with local counsel; develop educational materials; draft model state legislation on diversion and design a strategy to assist local advocates in one to three selected states to implement such a statute.

“Working in the public interest is rewarding for those I have the opportunity to help, and for myself as I continue on my journey to promote social justice.” says Lisa. Her experience at P&A coupled with her commitment in the public interest makes this fellowship an ideal next step in pursuing her public interest career. We wish her well in her journey to D.C. and much success in advocating for the rights of people with mental illness who languish in the criminal justice system.