A Teton County judge in Wyoming has reportedly ordered some chronically unhoused people in Jackson to get on a bus to Salt Lake City, which a Jackson police official said has “more resources,” according to a news article by the Jackson Hole News & Guide.
The reported action only applied to some unhoused individuals identified as “frequent fliers” who have cycled in and out of jail, according to the Wyoming news report published Wednesday.
The police official quoted in the story, Lt. Russ Ruschill of the Jackson Police Department, clarified to The Salt Lake Tribune on Thursday that he has heard of at least one unhoused person who was frequently arrested for “disorderly” behavior being instructed to go to Salt Lake City to obtain medical and mental health care.
“We are not ordering people to leave the town of Jackson to go to Salt Lake City,” he said of Jackson’s general unsheltered population. “We don’t export our homeless.”
According to the Wyoming news report, Ruschill said that if a homeless person in Jackson is experiencing a mental health crisis, they usually are taken to a hospital for treatment or partnered with an organization such as the Salvation Army to find a place to go.
But for homeless individuals who regularly cycle in and out of jail, the Wyoming news report initially stated that Teton County Circuit Court Judge James Radda had “begun writing into their release orders that they must take the bus to Salt Lake City.”
In a corrected version of the news report, however, which was updated Friday, the article states Radda did not write such a release order. Instead, the story states Circuit Court Magistrate Christopher Leigh signed one order that instructed one man to either enroll in a sobriety program in Teton County or transport to the Salt Lake City Express bus “for med tx in SLC,” referring to medical treatment in Salt Lake City. Court documents later provided to The Tribune also reflect Leigh’s order.
“Our mission is their safety,” Ruschill is quoted as saying in the Jackson news report. “Salt Lake City has more resources down there. The Greyhound runs out of Salt Lake. We have no bus service here other than SLC, and the Salt Lake Express is cheap.”
An attempt to reach Radda on Thursday was unsuccessful; an assistant in his chambers told The Tribune he was not available. A clerk with the Teton County Circuit Court subsequently said the judge was traveling, later adding that she could not confirm that the judge had ordered any homeless individuals to take a bus to Salt Lake City.
On Sunday, in an email from the Radda obtained by The Tribune, the judge also articulated that he has “not issued such an order.”
Ruschill reiterated in a phone call Thursday with The Tribune that Salt Lake City generally has more homelessness resources than Jackson.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall on Thursday denounced the initial report that a Teton County judge was sending some chronically homeless people to Salt Lake City, describing it in a statement as “not surprising.”
“But to know it’s being done via manipulation of the criminal justice system is irresponsible, disheartening, and cruel at a humanitarian level,” Mendenhall said, citing the original Wyoming news report.
She added that she reached out to Jackson Mayor Hailey Levinson and urged her and other Jackson officials “to address these issues in their city and state.”
In a statement Thursday, the Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness said it did not have any additional insight or information about whether any unsheltered individuals from Jackson had been sent to Salt Lake City. The organization said homelessness is a “national concern.”
“Our community’s network of service providers will continue to equitably serve people in need of assistance who arrive at our facilities, no matter where they come from,” the statement read.
Correction • Nov. 6, 12 p.m.: The story has been updated to correct that a magistrate signed a release order that instructed one individual to either enter a Teton County sobriety program or take a bus to Salt Lake City for medical treatment.
Clarification • Nov. 3, 2 p.m.: The story was updated with comments from a police lieutenant in Jackson.
