Last December, President Donald Trump signed 2 appropriations packages, which contained all 12 appropriations bills, to fund the U.S. government for FY2020. These packages include funding for key criminal justice programs aimed at increasing public safety and reducing recidivism at the local and state levels.
Last year, Massachusetts passed legislation representing the most significant changes to the state’s criminal justice system in decades. This legislation took concrete steps to incentivize good behavior in prison, divert people to treatment and programming as an alternative to incarceration, and strengthen community supervision.
Before these units existed, people experiencing a mental health crisis who came into contact with police were often taken to jail, which caused crowding in county jails that are simply not equipped to provide the kind of care and treatment that crisis stabilization units can.
“We have just finished the first module of the course and can see the commitment and determination mounting as the women in our class advance through each session,” said Deborah Simmons, founder of The Reentry Initiative, which is delivering CBI-CA to participants in the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility in Colorado.
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The initiative will provide technical assistance for public housing authorities that, in collaboration with justice system partners, are seeking to plan and implement reentry programs and/or change their admissions policies regarding people with conviction histories.
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The U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance will provide funding designed to improve school security by providing students and teachers with the tools they need to recognize, respond quickly to, and help prevent acts of violence.
The summit is a multidisciplinary gathering of professionals working together to tackle the major issues in fields dealing with violence, abuse, and trauma.
Continuing the discussion started in the webinar, Understanding Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in People Involved with the Criminal Justice System, this webinar addresses the practical application of tips for working successfully with people in the criminal justice system who have intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DDs).
In this webinar, representatives from the NRRC, along with staff from BJA, provide an overview of the Second Chance Act’s Reentry for Adults with Co-Occurring Substance Abuse and Mental Illness grant program and explain the training and technical assistance opportunities, Planning & Implementation Guide, and other resources available to grantees.
In this webinar, CSG Justice Center staff explain the training and technical assistance opportunities and resources available to FY18 JMHCP grantees.
In this webinar staff from BJA provide an overview of the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) Category 2 grant requirements.
In this webinar staff from BJA provide an overview of the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) Category 3 grant requirements. CSG Justice Center staff explain the training and technical assistance opportunities, and the other resources available to law enforcement grantees.
The data collection and evaluation learning community series for JMHCP and SCA grantees focuses on topics related to quality assurance and implementation science. This session was focused on “study and act” of the Plan, Do, Study, Act process featuring Dr. Faye Taxman from George Mason University and grantee speaker, Melissa Pierson from Franklin County, OH.
In this webinar, staff from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance provide an overview about the post-award budget, grant management, and performance measurement requirements.
In this webinar, CSG Justice Center staff explain the training and technical assistance opportunities and resources available to grantees, and staff from the Bureau of Justice Assistance provide an overview of the post-award grant management requirements.
In this webinar, presenters discuss six questions that law enforcement executives should consider when developing or enhancing Police-Mental Health Collaborations in their jurisdiction and share practical approaches that have been implemented in the field.
This webinar highlights two jurisdictions—the State of Oklahoma and Douglas County, Nebraska—and explains how they used Collaborative Comprehensive Case Plans to enhance their case planning processes and promote recovery, successful diversion from the criminal justice system to treatment, or reentry to the community among their participants.
This resource outlines eight communities selected to serve as mentor sites for the law enforcement/first responder diversion and referral program mentoring initiative.
This report studies the existing Los Angeles county jail mental health population to identify those who would likely be eligible for diversion based on legal and clinical factors.
This 2-page brief provides four practical steps law enforcement executives can take to address and improve outcomes for people who are high utilizers in their jurisdiction.
This report provides state and federal policymakers and state court colleagues with information on lessons learned from the National Judicial Opioid Task Force.
This podcast features a conversation between host Tess Terrible and experts in the field, including The Council of State Governments Justice Center’s Behavioral Health Division Director Ayesha Delany-Brumsey.
A report from the Dane County Behavioral Health Needs Assessment found approximately 46% of inmates within the county’s jail system were diagnosed with some form of mental health ailment. Given that nearly half of Dane County’s inmates may require varying degrees of mental health assistance, the county moved to address the issue.
Utah’s criminal justice system has become a revolving door for people suffering from mental health facilities, according to the state’s Supreme Court Chief Justice, Matthew B. Durrant.
“Every jail in our country, somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 to 40 percent of the people … are diagnosed mentally ill,” said National Sheriffs’ Association president Sheriff Daron Hall of Davidson County, Tennessee. Adding in the number of inmates addicted to drugs, the proportion shoots to at least 90 percent.
Butler County has earned high praise from a former Ohio Supreme Court justice and could secure more funding to continue the battle against mental health and incarceration issues, officials said.
Risë Haneberg, deputy division director for county initiatives for the CSG Justice Center, explains that since its inception, the Stepping Up initiative has gotten nearly 500 counties in 43 states to “focus on early forms of diversion” to keep mentally ill people from getting trapped in the penal system.
When the current Boone County Jail was built in 1991—with 184 beds—it was soon packed to capacity. Boone County Commissioner Janet Thompson said this was when the county began to work on lowering the jail population.
Jason Pritchard found faith in prison and took advantage of recovery programs offered by the Tennessee Department of Correction. When he was released in 2017, Pritchard had a plan to stay out.
There is an abundance of evidence on the negative consequences of incarceration, but what is less understood is how individuals can thrive and change for the better in prison.
Since our founding in 2002, we’ve made tremendous progress and seen a significant impact on many patients’ health and well-being. Yet, new evidence from a recent randomized controlled trial shows that there is much more work to be done if we truly want to improve care, reduce costs, and advance overall health.
The Arizona Department of Corrections says 78 percent of the inmates in its custody have a history of substance abuse at the time they’re admitted into prison. But less than 4 percent of all inmates who spent time in Arizona prisons in fiscal year 2019 received treatment while behind bars.