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.
The CSG Justice Center today released a first-of-its-kind, web-based resource that combines extensive data analyses, case studies and recommended strategies from all 50 states to help policymakers address their state’s specific public safety challenges.
The Stepping Up initiative recently launched a national effort to help counties collect accurate, accessible data on the number of people entering their jails who have mental illnesses. As part of the effort, seven rural and urban “Innovator Counties” have been selected as models for their expertise in accurately identifying these individuals and consistently collecting data on them.
The Baltimore County, Maryland, county executive recently released a report that provides recommendations for the county to better position its police-mental health collaboration (PMHC), the Baltimore County Crisis Response System, to provide an effective and comprehensive response that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and maximizes both public safety and health outcomes.
Recently, the U.S. Congress approved the $1.3 trillion Fiscal Year 2018 Omnibus Appropriations bill that would set government funding through Sep. 30, 2018. The bill provides $30.3 billion for the Department of Justice and includes $2.9 billion for various state and local law enforcement assistance grant programs.
Arkansas’s first crisis stabilization unit (CSU) opened in Sebastian County on March 1 with high praise from Governor Asa Hutchinson. This center, which will provide services to people experiencing mental health crises, is the first of four such centers planned across the state. Officials are hopeful that it will serve as a model that other states can follow.
The Council of State Governments (CSG) recently announced that Megan Quattlebaum, research scholar in law at Yale University Law School and lecturer in law at Columbia University Law School, will be the next director of The CSG Justice Center.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s GAINS Center will present a webinar on the ways that Fire Departments and Emergency Medical Services can be partners with behavioral health providers and other first responders on early diversion initiatives.
The Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice is partnering with the Colorado School of Public Health to convene an interdisciplinary conference for behavioral health, social justice, and healthier communities, particularly in relation to more effectively meeting the needs of people in the juvenile and criminal justice systems who have mental illnesses and substance addictions.
This year’s IACP conference will include topics that address contemporary or emerging issues confronting the law enforcement profession and the leaders of law enforcement agencies.
North Dakota has launched Free Through Recovery, a substance use program that provides care coordination and recovery support services to people in the criminal justice system.
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.
During this webinar, judges and other court personnel learn about the tips for recognizing indications of a mental illness and/or substance use disorder in the courtroom, the process for treatment recommendation and referral for defendants with behavioral health needs, and how to collaborate with behavioral health care providers in their communities
In this webinar, CSG Justice Center staff explain the training and technical assistance opportunities and resources available to FY17 JMHCP Category 3 Implementation & Expansion grantees.
In this webinar, BJS statistician Jennifer Bronson reviews the findings from two reports and discusses how jurisdictions around the country—namely Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program grantees—can use this information.
This new journal from the National Association of Drug Court Professionals is dedicated to the topic of identifying and rectifying racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in treatment courts.
This publication from the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness lays out a plan for ending homelessness that focuses on identifying and describing essential federal strategies to build effective, lasting systems that aim to work both in the present and to be able to respond quickly and efficiently when housing instability and homelessness occur in the future.
This paper from the California Health Care Foundation reviews recent changes to the Confidentiality of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Patient Records, 42 Code of Federal Regulations related to substance addiction treatment.
This report from the Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures addresses challenges faced by transition-aged youth and young adults with mental health conditions as they try to find and maintain stable housing.
This publication from JAMA Network Open offers a cross-sectional analysis of the association between various levels of opioid use and health, co-occurring substance addictions, and involvement in the criminal justice system.
This publication from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation examines how public safety personnel, health professionals, and service providers can contribute to solving the problem of Frequent Utilizers—those who cycle in and out of jails, hospitals, shelters, and other social service programs at a startlingly high rate.
This report examines data on prison populations and crime since comprehensive changes to policies and practices took place in Utah beginning in 2015.
This issue paper from the Community Oriented Correctional Health Services describes how medications are prescribed and dispensed in a criminal justice system setting, including through the use of health information technology.
This toolkit from the Addiction Policy Forum was designed to empower patients, families, emergency medicine providers, and policymakers to work collaboratively to identify patients in need of help, initiate evidence-based treatments, and connect patients and families to comprehensive support services.
This policy brief from the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors discusses the economic costs of crime and the effectiveness of programs to reduce recidivism, focusing on programs delivered inside correctional facilities addressing three main areas: mental health, substance abuse, and education.
Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said law enforcement officials are trying to understand how women’s experiences are typically different from men’s experiences, and that changes how they interact in a jail.
The county will use a $2 million, two-year grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to phase in treatment for inmates in Clayton’s Buzz Westfall Justice Center.
“What’s most important about this whole pilot program is the data we will collect,” said Middlesex County Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian, who serves as president of the Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association. Medication-assisted treatment “has proven to be an effective way to treat substance use disorder.”
The state study comes after The Pew Charitable Trusts issued a comprehensive, state-by-state look at prison health care costs last year. Among the 49 states that participated in the study, Vermont came in with the second-highest per-inmate health care cost in fiscal year 2015 at $13,747.
A longstanding collaborative program on the frontline of helping at-risk youth and their families in Oak Park and River Forest is receiving State of Illinois recognition as a “shared service best practice.”
A study indicates that 23 percent of Floyd County’s inmates have mental health issues, “but we know it’s probably well over 50 percent,” said Bonnie Moore, president of NAMI Rome.
Trainees learn all aspects of culinary arts while developing social skills that create tender encounters with visitors. In addition to job training, the former gang members can take advantage of tattoo removal, anger management classes and drug treatment.
Study authors found that not only is the connection between mental illness and violence shoddy—the 44-plus million American adults with a mental illness account for between 3 and 5 percent of violent crimes—but in fact those who have a mental illness are more likely to be the victims of a violent crime.
Last September, Rob and Diane Perez opened DV8 Kitchen, a restaurant that not only hires people in treatment for addiction to opioids or other substances, but also focuses its entire business model on recovery, using the restaurant setting as a tool for rehabilitation.
Among people with prescription opioid use disorder, nearly 20 percent had criminal justice involvement. For heroin users, it was 40 percent.