Programs: Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program

BJA Programs

Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program

Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program FY 2009 Grant Awards

Announcements:
New Study Documents High Prevalence of Serious Mental Illnesses among Nation's Jail Population
The Justice Center, in partnership with Policy Research Associates, conducted a five-site study, with initial funding from the National Institute of Justice to develop a screening instrument for mental illness and with additional support from the National Institute of Corrections to generate the study findings. The findings were highlighted in the June issue of Psychiatric Services.

Key Findings

14.5 percent of men and 31 percent of women entering the jails studied were found to have serious mental illnesses. These rates are three to six times higher than those found in the general population.
The gender difference is particularly important given the rising number of women in U.S. jails.
If applied to the 13 million jail admissions reported in 2007, the findings suggest that more than 2 million bookings of a person with a serious mental illness may occur annually.
This study represents the most reliable estimates in the last 20 years of the rates of serious mental illnesses among adults entering jails.

For more information, please visit:Council of State Governments Justice Center Release Estimates on the Prevalence of Adults with Serious Mental Illnesses in Jails

Technical Assistance and Training Event: Materials Now Available on the Consensus Project Website The Council of State Governments Justice Center, in conjunction with the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) hosted a national technical assistance and training event on July 15-17, 2009 in Washington, DC. Speakers at this event provided training to nearly 500 representatives from state and local governments and community-based programs who are working to improve how the justice system addresses adults and juveniles with mental illnesses. Smart Responses in Tough Times: Achieving Better Outcomes for People with Mental Illnesses Involved in the Criminal Justice System was the largest training forum ever organized by BJA on this topic. Materials from this event are now available on the Consensus Project website at http://consensusproject.org/bja-ta-training-event-july-2009.

New Consensus Project Website Launched
The Council of State Governments Justice Center has recently updated its website. Please visit the website today to learn more about their work related to criminal justice and mental health programs, including information on the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program Grantees.

FRONTLINE Film on Reentry: On April 28, 2009, the PBS series FRONTLINE broadcast a film called "The Released," which explores what happens to mentally ill offenders once they are released from prison. A video clip is available at: www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/released/.

Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) Webinar Series: The Council of State Governments Justice Center hosted a series of webinars, funded by BJA, for the JMHCP webinar series:

"HIPAA: Myths, Facts, and Cross-System Collaboration" (March 23, 2009)
John Petrila, Professor of Mental Health Law & Policy at the University of South Florida
Webinar PowerPoint presentation
"Improving the Mental health Court Response to Crime Victims" (May 19, 2009)
Carol Dorris, National Center for Victims of Crime; Tim Murray, Pretrial Justice Institute; and Hope Glassberg, Council of State Governments Justice Center
Webinar audio
"Mental Health Screening and Assessment in Juvenile Justice" (June 30, 2009) Thomas Grisso, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry (Clinical Psychology), Director of the Law and Psychiatry Program, and Director of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School
Webinar PowerPoint presentation

FY 2009 Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program Applicant Webinars Now Available Online: BJA is pleased to announce that both Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program applicant webinars are now available online. The webinars, held February 4th and February 26th, covered an overview of the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program and provided practical information about the current FY 2009 solicitation for potential applicants. The webinars featured Q&A sessions with BJA presenters. Click here for a link to the February 4th presentation, including audio. Click here for a link to the February 26th presentation, including audio. The Council of State Governments Justice Center recently announced that Delaware, Idaho, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin have been selected to participate in the Chief Justices' Criminal Justice/Mental Health Leadership Initiative. This is a national project that assists state supreme court chief justices in improving responses to people with mental illness involved in the justice system. The four chief justices selected will convene task forces of state leaders to examine ways to enhance how the criminal just system addresses the needs of people with mental illness.

The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center recently released two publications about crime victims: Responding to People Who Have Been Victimized by Individuals with Mental Illnesses and A Guide to the Role of Crime Victims in Mental Health Courts. These guides were written by CSG Justice Center staff, with support from the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) and are available for download at consensusproject.org/issue-areas/victims/vpmi/.

Overview:
The Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) was created by the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-414) in response to requests from state government officials to recommend improvements to the criminal justice system's response to people with mental illness. The purpose of the program is to increase public safety by facilitating collaboration among the criminal justice, juvenile justice, mental health treatment, and substance abuse systems to increase access to treatment for this unique group of offenders. People with mental illness are significantly represented in the segment of the population in contact with the criminal justice system. Approximately 5 percent of the U.S. population has a serious mental illness, while according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics in a 1999 report, about 16 percent of the prison or jail population has a serious mental illness. Of the 10 million people Council of State Governments Justice Center with mental illness. The purpose of the program is to increase public safety by facilitating collaboration among the criminal justice, juvenile justice, mental health treatment, and substance abuse systems to increase access to treatment for this unique group of offenders. People with mental illness are significantly represented in the segment of the population in contact with the criminal justice system. Approximately 5 percent of the U.S. population has a serious mental illness, while according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics in a 1999 report, about 16 percent of the prison or jail population has a serious mental illness. Of the 10 million people booked into U.S. jails in 1997, at least 700,000 had a serious mental illness; approximately three-quarters of those individuals had a co-occurring substance abuse disorder. For juveniles, a study completed by the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice concluded that two-thirds of detained male youth and three-quarters of detained female youth have at least one mental health disorder.

The goals of the program are to:

Protect public safety by early intervention to treatment for people with mental illness or a co-occurring disorder who become involved with the criminal or juvenile justice system. This includes strategies (to the extent practicable) to address development and learning disabilities and problems arising from a documented history of physical or sexual abuse.
Provide courts, including existing and new mental health courts, with appropriate mental health and substance abuse treatment options.
Maximize the use of diversion from prosecution and use of alternative sentences through community supervision and use of graduated sanctions, as appropriate for the client, in cases involving nonviolent offenders with mental illness.
Promote adequate training for criminal justice system personnel about mental illness and substance abuse disorders and the appropriate responses to people with such illnesses, including those with developmental and learning disabilities.
Promote adequate training for mental health and substance abuse treatment personnel about criminal offenders with mental illness or co-occurring substance abuse disorders and the appropriate response to such offenders in the criminal justice system.
Promote communication among adult or juvenile justice personnel, mental health and co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse disorder treatment personnel, and nonviolent offenders with mental illness and co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders and support services such as housing, job placement, faith-based and community services, schools, child welfare, transportation, and crime victims' organizations.
Promote communication, collaboration, and intergovernmental partnerships among municipal-, county-, and state-elected officials with respect to mentally ill offenders.

Grantee Snapshots:
FY 2006 Grantees
FY 2007 Grantees
FY 2008 Grantees

Mental Health Court Learning Sites:
BJA has designated five mental health courts as learning sites to provide a peer support network for local and state officials interested in planning a new or improving on an existing mental health court. The five learning sites are:

Akron Municipal Mental Health Court (OH)
Bonneville County Mental Health Court (ID)
Bronx County Mental Health Court (NY)
Dougherty Superior Court (GA)
Washoe County Mental Health Court (NV)

The learning sites host site visits, hold conference calls, and respond to e-mail inquiries from people interested in starting a mental health court or improving their current program. The Council of State Governments Justice Center oversees this program for BJA. Snapshots of each of the learning sites, along with longer program descriptions, can be found at http://consensusproject.org/mhcp.

Legislation: The Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program is funded through the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004 (MIOTCRA) (Public Law 108-414)and the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-416).

Funding: The FY 2010 has not yet been determined.

Eligibility:Applicants are limited to states, units of local government, federally recognized Indian tribes, and tribal organizations. Each application must demonstrate that the proposed project will be administered jointly by a unit of government with responsibility for criminal or juvenile justice activities and a mental health agency.

How/When To Apply: BJA released the FY 2009 grant announcement for the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program on January 12, 2009, and applications were due March 12, 2009. All applications must be submitted via Grants.gov.

Training and Technical Assistance:
The Council of State Governments (CSG), coordinator of the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project, along with the National Association of Counties (NACo) and the Pretrial Services Resources Center (PSRC), provides technical assistance to BJA's Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program. Specifically, technical assistance is available to grantees planning, implementing, evaluating, and sustaining their Justice and Mental Health Collaborations. In addition, they provide similar types of assistance to nongrantees in the fields of criminal justice and mental health through publications and collaborative workshops and conferences. This year's technical assistance will focus on helping law enforcement, mental health courts, and court-based initiatives improve the response to people with mental illness in the criminal justice system. Technical assistance efforts will also be coordinated with the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) to provide assistance on the issue of mentally ill offenders who are incarcerated in jails, prisons, and other correctional facilities. To achieve these goals, CSG, NACo, PSRC, and NIC will make available the following forms of support:

Maintain a web site that serves as a clearinghouse of information for anyone working in the criminal justice system seeking to improve the response to people with mental illness in the justice system.
Provide onsite and offsite technical assistance to grantees and nongrantees.
Coordinate technical assistance efforts with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and its TAPA and GAINS Centers for technical assistance to provide assistance on mental health services and jail diversion strategies.
Support the Judges Leadership Initiative, which seeks to build leadership in the judiciary to effectively address the community and consumer needs of those with mental illness in the criminal justice system.
Develop and disseminate written publications on key issues related to justice and mental health collaboration.

The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center's Consensus Project is a national effort to help local, state, and federal policymakers and criminal justice and mental health professionals improve the response to people with mental illnesses in contact with--or at risk of contact with--the criminal justice system.

For more information on the Consensus Project and to register for the Consensus Project e-newsletter, visit http://consensusproject.org.

CSG maintains an interactive online database of collaborative criminal justice/mental health programs from across the country. You can browse hundreds of specialized law enforcement programs, mental health courts, and specialized corrections and community corrections programs. To search the local programs database or to add your
program, visit: http://cjmh-infonet.org/programs_start.

Related Information:
Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Training and Technical Assistance Program (FY 2009 Competitive Grant Announcement)

JMHCP Planning and Implementation Guide

Justice and Mental Health Collaboration State-Based Capacity Building Program (FY 2009 Competitive Grant Announcement)

FY 2009 Frequently Asked Questions

Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (FY 2009 Competitive Grant Announcement)

FY 2009 Frequently Asked Questions

FY 2008 Grant Awards
Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (FY 2008 Competitive Grant Announcement)
FY 2008 Frequently Asked Questions

FY 2007 Grant Awards
Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (FY 2007 Competitive Grant Announcement)
FY 2007 Frequently Asked Questions

FY 2006 Grant Awards
Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (FY 2006 Competitive Grant Announcement)

Featured Publications:
Mental Health Courts:

Law Enforcement:

Corrections/Reentry:

Related Publications:
BJA Mental Health Initiatives
Report to the President on Issues Raised by the Virginia Tech Tragedy
Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program Brief
Law Enforcement/Mental Health Partnership Program
The Police Response to People with Mental Illnesses (MS Word)
Police Response to People with Mental Illness: Specialized Approaches
People with Mental Illness (from DOJ's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services(COPS)
Emerging Judicial Strategies for the Mentally Ill in the Criminal Caseload: Mental Health Courts in Fort Lauderdale, Seattle, San Bernardino, and Anchorage (HTML, PDF, or ASCII) Memphis, Tennessee, Police Department's Crisis Intervention Team (PDF or ASCII)

Contact Information:
Ruby Qazilbash
Senior Policy Advisor for Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Bureau of Justice Assistance
810 Seventh Street NW.
Washington, DC 20531
Phone: (202) 305-6982
Fax: (202) 305-2543
E-mail: Ruby.Qazilbash@usdoj.gov