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 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.
A 55-year-old U.S. Army veteran, Ronald Forbes is on the brink of expanding his Oakland, California-based catering company in partnership with his sister, Catherine. Soon, he’ll move the business to a commercial space, but for now he’s practicing his recipes for barbecue chicken, ribs, and his mom’s potato salad at home.
The program provides funding to prevent and reduce suicidal behavior and substance use, reduce the impact of trauma, and promote mental health among American Indian/Alaska Native youth through the age of 24 years.
The program provides funding for agencies to help improve outcomes for young children by developing, maintaining, or enhancing infant and early childhood mental health promotion, intervention, and treatment services.
The fund will award grants in support of initiatives that seek to correct the circumstances contributing to the condition of homelessness.
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.
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.
In this webinar, staff from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and The Council of State Governments Justice Center review information for Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program applicants and grantees on the grant management and budget process.
This webinar reviews effective methods for building and implementing a research partnership, with a particular emphasis on agencies that have recently established a new research partnership or are planning on starting a research partnership.
In this webinar, two victim services reentry professionals from corrections departments discuss victim service programming for agencies and organizations that work with people 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 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.
This publication provides an overview of reentry literature, reentry outcomes, and the initiatives that may work to improve public safety.
In September 2016, Baltimore County, Maryland’s county executive asked the CSG Justice Center to conduct an independent assessment of its law enforcement and behavioral health collaboration, the Baltimore County Crisis Response System, which helps the county respond to people who have behavioral health needs. This report describes the assessment’s methodology, highlights key findings, and discusses those recommendations and strategies.
This brief from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation examines the use of opioid addiction treatment services and Medicaid’s role in expanding access to these services.
This report from the Vera Institute of Justice examines New York State’s overdose education and naloxone distribution program and what lessons it can offer related to corrections-based responses to the opioid epidemic.
This brief from the Campaign for Youth Justice examines individual and systematic factors considered as critical when judges and prosecutors are determining whether to prosecute a youth as an adult.
This TIP document reviews the use of three Food and Drug Administration-approved medications used to treat opioid use disorder, as well as the other strategies and services needed to support recovery.
This report from the National Association of Counties explains Medicaid’s role in the U.S. healthcare system and its benefit to counties in particular, especially in the areas of behavioral health and treatment for substance use disorders.
The Champaign County Jail signed onto the Stepping Up Initiative after Deputy Chief Allen Jones realized the majority of the jail’s “frequent flyers,” who landed in jail five or more times a year, had mental health or substance use issues.
Anti-medication-assisted therapy policies have a number of unconscionable effects. They mean that incarceration necessarily disrupts a promising treatment before it has time to work. They also force addicts who are in treatment but faced with incarceration to rapidly and dangerously taper off serious medications.
One of the first grants that our Stepping Up team secured financed an intake survey that identifies people for whom jail time is not the best solution. Once an individual is identified with a mental health or other problem, one of our county’s network of service providers can be brought in to help.
Massachusetts state legislation enacted in August 2015, known as Chapter 55, allowed for the first time the linking of 22 data sets to answer questions about opioid use and the epidemic spreading across the state.
In Camden, New Jersey, the co-occurring reentry program focuses on people with co-occurring mental health and substance use issues. It’s unique for a city that has limited addiction recovery resources.
In a recent press release, Poughkeepsie’s police chief said that since more foot patrols like the Behavioral Evaluation and Assistance Team have been added, the department is receiving fewer calls for service, and departments in neighboring communities are seeking out grants to start similar programs.
About 1 in 3 people in the Tulsa County jail have a mental illness, according to Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Casey Roebuck. The county has mental health pods, which are specially designed for such people and have trained staff, but Roebuck said they often are at capacity.
America hasn’t fully embraced the solutions that we know can work. According to a 2016 report by the surgeon general, only 10 percent of people in the US with a drug use disorder get specialty treatment, which the report attributed to a lack of access to care. Even when treatment is available, other federal data suggests that fewer than half of treatment facilities offer opioid addiction medications.
Since the inception of the voluntary program three years ago, 83 have graduated and two have since returned to prison.
That is an incredible statistic compared with the most recent state data, which shows a recidivism rate at 46 percent.
The Pew Charitable Trusts recently hosted a panel discussion in Philadelphia on how the city and other urban areas, such as Baltimore and Staten Island, New York, are responding to the opioid crisis.