The majority of people in prison and jail have a substance use disorder. Despite the promise demonstrated by some treatment programs for people who are incarcerated, just a fraction of the people who need services for substance abuse receive it. Connecting people incarcerated to treatment programs proven to be effective, prioritizing resources for those nearing release, and encouraging community-based aftercare will ensure better outcomes for people released from prisons and jails, and the communities to which they return.
Providing answers on relevant topics concerning Mental Health, Health and Substance Abuse topics.
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.
“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.
The IMPACTS (Improving People’s Access to Community-Based Treatment, Supports, and Services) grant program will offer supports and services to aid people with mental illnesses and substance addictions who frequently end up in the state’s jails, courts, and hospitals, which is currently costing these systems millions of dollars annually.
This pilot program stems from policy recommendations made during the state’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative in 2015. As a result of this initiative, Massachusetts invested more than $1 million in providing specialized treatment services to people who have substance addictions, mental illnesses, or co-occurring disorders and are at a high risk of reoffending.
Michael P. Boggs, a Georgia Supreme Court justice, has been appointed chair of The Council of State Governments Justice Center’s Advisory Board.
I arrived at the CSG Justice Center aware that the field of criminal justice has changed dramatically since our inception in 2007, presenting our organization and others with new challenges and exciting opportunities. As we entered our second decade, I felt that we first needed to be sure we understand who we are, what we stand for, and how we fit into this growing field.
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This webinar, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, will explain how the Office of Justice Programs grant process works and focus on what applicants should understand when applying for funding.
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The fellowships fund outstanding individuals to undertake projects that advance reform, spur debate, and catalyze change on a range of issues facing the U.S. criminal justice system.
Since 1988, this annual conference has been a leader in promoting the development of the research base essential to improved service systems for children and youth with mental health challenges and their families, including youth involved in the juvenile justice system.
The National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs annual conference will delve into complex care ecosystems that exist across the country and explore how collaboration is foundational to this work.
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 webinar focusses on the programming developed specifically for veterans in two jurisdictions—the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Office in Massachusetts and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department in California—and explains how these jurisdictions developed partnerships with their Veterans Affairs resources and other entities in their criminal justice systems.
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 (CSAMI) grant program and explain the training and technical assistance opportunities that are available to grantees, including the Planning & Implementation Guide, and other resources available to grantees.
This webinar includes information on planning and coordination, behavioral health treatment, cognitive interventions, and community supervision practices as well as community resources such as housing and recovery support services.
This webinar focusses on best practices for screening and assessment of people in the criminal justice system who have opioid addictions.
In this webinar, Leigh Ann Davis, director of the National Center on Criminal Justice & Disability, discusses differences and similarities between various kinds of behavioral health diagnoses and I/DD, how to identify someone with I/DD, and tips for to work more effectively with people with I/DD in correctional settings.
In this webinar, representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and the National Reentry Resource Center review the FY18 Improving Reentry for Adults with Co-occurring Substance Abuse and Mental Illness application process.
In this webinar, representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and the CSG Justice Center review the FY2018 Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program grant application process.
This webinar provides an overview of national estimates of incarcerated veterans; explains components of the Veterans Health Administration’s veterans justice programs; expands awareness of the needs of veterans in the justice system; and discusses new developments in the Veterans Administration and community interventions to provide services to veterans in the justice system.
This webinar features Roger Peters, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist and professor in the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida. The webinar discusses the prevalence of co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders among people involved in the criminal justice system, as well as effective screening and assessment instruments to use with this population.
This report from the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law describes the essential community mental health services that must be expanded to divert people with significant psychiatric disabilities from the criminal justice system.
This issue brief discusses how geographic information systems and other data visualization technologies enhance the way that state substance use agencies plan, implement, monitor, and communicate about their prevention, treatment, and recovery activities.
This brief applies key elements of Olmstead v. L.C. law to the challenge of reducing the vastly disproportionate number of people with mental illnesses in the U.S. criminal justice system.
This publication offers a comprehensive guide for communities on best practices for starting and sustaining CIT programs.
This report explores how ending mass incarceration and repairing its extensive collateral consequences should begin by focusing on police work at the front end of the system.
This manual provides a starting place for jurisdictions looking to use data to better understand and improve the outcomes of people with mental illnesses and/or substance addictions who come into contact with the criminal justice system.
This report presents early interim findings about the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services’ Office of Diversion and Reentry’s supportive housing program, which provides housing coupled with case management.
This publication examines existing data and expertise on mass violence, provides an analysis about its causes and impacts, and makes recommendations to inform policy and practice for a broad range of stakeholders.
This guide is intended for court leaders who want to change how mental health needs and co-occurring disorders are addressed, laying out steps from beginning the movement to sustaining the initial momentum for long-term progress.
The report includes interviews with state leaders from over 60 organizations and offers over a dozen realistic policy proposals aimed at helping state and local government officials in Illinois smooth reentry and reduce recidivism.
Here’s how it works: The program takes care of housing and food—things the women would normally need from their trafficker. Participants get treatment for trauma and addiction, and they are eligible to get their records expunged.
The Cook County Housing Authority issues 15,000 Section 8 housing vouchers to low-income county residents every year. Now 25 of them are going to drug court graduates. If the pilot program is successful, it could be expanded.
Holyoke Medical Center says it is beginning to see less recidivism among opioid-dependent individuals coming through its emergency department, where it has added staff to help such individuals not relapse and to access help.
Council of State Governments Behavioral Health Director Ayesha Delany-Brumsey says, “The question that needs to be answered is, if there is a call to 911 for someone in crisis, how do we respond most effectively? As of now, the only options are to send the police or EMS.”
Forensic Assertive Community Treatment teams provide a range of support services designed to keep people with serious mental illness out of the hospital and out of the criminal justice system.
The Governor’s Office, in collaboration with the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet’s Office of Drug Control Policy, is launching the “Hope and Help” initiative to provide vital resources to individuals struggling with substance addictions.
Providing housing and services rather than putting people in jail actually eases their addiction, ensures they have the tools to break the cycle of homelessness and has saved Seattle millions in law enforcement and emergency room costs.
The American Civil Liberties Union said it had reached a settlement with a federal prison in Kansas that had denied buprenorphine, an opioid addiction medication, to an inmate who the group said would “inevitably suffer and possibly die” without it.
The Fairfax County Police Department now has two full-time psychologists and a team of clinicians on staff, so officers don’t have to pay out of pocket for treatment.
Six years later, the innovative judicial model appears to be achieving its goal. Researchers from Washington State University found that participants in the program had lower recidivism rates than equivalent individuals who didn’t go through it.