A McLean County program for people struggling with substance use and mental health has resulted in fewer brushes with the criminal justice system.
That’s according to new data compiled for the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council [CJCC], an interagency group of law enforcement and criminal justice professionals in McLean County.
The council’s quarterly meeting included an update on FUSE, an initiative launched in 2019 to help the countywide Mental Health Action Plan reach its goals.
The voluntary program enrolls people affected by mental illness and substance abuse who frequently interact with McLean County’s criminal justice system, emergency rooms and homeless shelters.
FUSE is funded by an intergovernmental sales tax agreement between McLean County, Bloomington and Normal collected to pay for public safety and mental health initiatives.
The program is a licensed Illinois Community Support Team provider, employing two therapists and two case managers, who assist with basic needs like food, identification cards and transportation. One case manager is also a peer recovery support specialist who attends court hearings as clients navigate the criminal justice system.
A registered nurse also works with FUSE to link clients to primary care doctors.
“The majority — I would say about 99% of our clients — have been unhoused in the past year,” said Nicole Kirstein, a therapist and FUSE program manager. “Their health is something they don’t always put on the priority of their to-do list. But we know their physical health is just as important as their mental health.”
The nurse also assists with medication management.
“A lot of our clients will keep their medication locked in our office and they’ll come in daily to take medication,” Kirstein said.
The goal is to use these wrap-around supports to reduce arrests, shelter stays and emergency room visits.
The program is rapidly growing, and data analyzed by Illinois State University’s Stevenson Center indicates it’s succeeding with at least one of its three goals: Of the 56 participants in FUSE enrolled since December 2025, 48 had fewer jail bookings in an 18-month period following their enrollment.
Beck said FUSE participants tend to be a little older, on average, at the time they are booked, and approximately 70% are flagged by jail staff as having a mental health issue in intake.
The group had an average of 1.5 bookings total in that time, compared to 3.4 bookings average in the 18 months prior to enrollment.
“So, the number of bookings while in FUSE was less than half for the same number of months,” said Frank Beck, an ISU sociologist contracted to compile criminal justice data for the county.
Fewer, but more serious charges
Beck’s data indicate FUSE participants’ brushes with the criminal justice system, while fewer in number, tended to be more serious offenses.
A greater proportion of charges filed against FUSE enrollees were felonies. Of the 56 people, three were charged with driving under the influence — 5.36% of the group, compared with 19% of the non-FUSE population.
Casey Costigan, chief judge for the 11th Judicial Circuit, asked if the data were stratified by type within that category to better understand where FUSE might be beneficial.
“We certainly could; I don’t know that off the top of my head,” said Beck.
“I’m assuming these are the burglaries, the thefts, where a person couldn’t be detained,” said Costigan.
Under the Pretrial Fairness Act [PFA], certain offenses are not detainable under Illinois law. The law replaced cash bail in the state, leaving judges to assign pretrial conditions which, Costigan said, might include a referral to FUSE.
“I get the success of FUSE,” Costigan said. “I get… what type of offenses they’re having the most success with. From a judicial standpoint, we see the folks who come in who cannot be detained by the PFA. We see a revolving door with some of these folks. …A lot of times the judges’, the court’s hands, are tied in terms of what we can do.”
Some in the criminal justice system have advocated for giving judges more agency in determining who gets detained. In McLean County, an initial drop in jail population when the law was enacted in 2023 has since bounced back to pre-PFA levels.
Beck said the FUSE data straddles the implementation of cashless bail.
Judge William Yoder asked if, for the CJCC’s next quarterly meeting, Beck could separate pre- and post-PFA data on Class 3 felonies.
“The batteries, which I think are non-detainable, for the most part. The burglaries. All non-detainable,” Yoder said. “The state has no discretion. Can’t file a petition to detain. The court has no discretion… so those people are being released automatically as a result of that legislation. It would be interesting to see if that number is different pre- and post-PFA.”
Beck said additional next steps include measuring the same population for emergency room visits and shelter stays.
