Upcoming Events
02/29/2012 02:00 PM
Developing effective prison- and jail-based programs that mitigate the likelihood that an individual will reoffend after release is important to policymakers and practitioners at both the state and local levels. However, until recently little was known about which “behind-the-wall” treatment programs are most effective at decreasing criminal behavior, as well as which type is most cost effective.
This National Reentry Resource Center webinar will help policymakers and practitioners better understand how to design and implement “behind-the-wall” treatment programs that research has proven effective.
The webinar will cover the following topics:
Research findings on the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral interventions;
Best practices for designing, selecting, and implementing programs;
Successful cognitive behavioral interventions and how to train staff to deliver these interventions;
Research findings on how the intensity and dosage requirements of an individual’s treatment plan varies based on his/her risk level;
How to prioritize what programming an individual receives based on his/her risk level and the time until his/her release; and
How an agency can monitor the degree to which its program is consistent with its initial design.
Attendees can ask the presenter questions about any of these or other related topics in the last 30 minutes of the webinar.
The presenter for this webinar is Kathleen Gnall, an independent consultant with extensive experience working with criminal justice professionals, policymakers, community and business leaders, social service providers, and members of faith-based and non-profit organizations to enhance public safety while improving individual outcomes. Ms. Gnall spent 17 years with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PDOC), where she served as executive assistant to the secretary of corrections; the director of policy, planning, research, evaluation and grants; and the deputy secretary for specialized programs and reentry.
Date: Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Time: 2:00-3:30 p.m. ET
To register for this webinar, click here.
Learn the tools, strategies, and techniques that will allow corrections staff, mental health service providers, and advocates to work together to develop and implement a crisis intervention team (CIT). CITs help reduce crisis situations, improve safety, and promote better outcomes for persons with mental illness.
About the Training
Participant teams attending this training will learn the core elements of a locally developed and owned CIT for managing mental illness in prisons, jails, and community corrections. Teams will learn how to develop collaborative partnerships and implement a CIT model that takes a team approach engaging community stakeholders, including corrections agencies, local mental health agencies, family advocacy groups, and others.
Participants will also learn how to defend a CIT’s effectiveness in enhancing correctional staff’s knowledge and skills, aiding administrators in improved management and care for a special population, reducing liability and cost, improving community partnerships for increased access to resources and supports, and increasing safety for all. Overall, this training program focuses on building an agency’s capacity to implement a locally owned and administered CIT program and the training for that program. Click here for a flyer with more training and registration information.
March 12 - 15, 2012 - Apply by December 19, 2011.
July 16 - 19, 2011 - Apply by April 16, 2012.
Past Events
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Committee met on August 6, 2011 in Kissimmee, FL. The Committee Members discussed the National Forum on Recidivism scheduled for December 8, 2011 in Washington DC; got an update from Gary Dennis regarding 2011 BJA funding opportunities to be awarded and the prospects of continued funding for The Second Chance Act for FY2012; received a update on ASCA projects from Bob May (ASCA) and NIC project updates from Anita Pollard (NIC). Click here for the minutes from the August 6, 2011 meeting.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Committee met on August 6, 2011 at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissimmee, FL.
Click here for photos from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Committee meeting.
News
In the latest edition of Corrections & Mental Health, NIC’s mental health newsletter, Steve Allen, Director of Behavior Health Services with the Minnesota Department of Corrections, formally announced the creation of the Association of Corrections Mental Health Administrators (ACMHA). This network was developed with support from NIC and is intended to bring together corrections mental health executives from across the country for the purpose of sharing information and best practices. The members have formed workgroups focused on the following areas:
- Suicide prevention
- Managing self-harm
- Ethical and legal issues
- Mentally ill offenders in segregation
- Diagnostics
- Research
- Treatment programs
According to Allen, ACHMA’s next scheduled meeting will include discussion about the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on local healthcare systems, effective release and reintegration planning with mentally ill offenders, and ACHMA workgroup presentations.
For more information about ACMHA, please visit their network in the Corrections Community. There you can subscribe for automatic updates via RSS and e-mail.
The National Reentry Resource Center, a project of the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, announced it is accepting applicants to participate in a pilot project to improve access to substance abuse treatment for corrections populations. The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) has funded the CSG Justice Center, in partnership with NIATx at the Center for Health Enhancement Systems Studies, to implement the Bringing NIATx to Corrections project to help jurisdictions design new and innovative ways to provide access to treatment for corrections populations.
The Bringing NIATx to Corrections project applies the nationally recognized NIATx process improvement model to corrections, community supervision, and treatment agencies. This is the first time this research-based model has been applied in this way. CSG hopes applying the model will help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of these agencies’ partnerships—and, as a result, increase the number of people who are referred to and participate in treatment. Pilot sites will receive access to technical assistance (TA) from the Justice Center and NIATx, a project ‘coach’ from NIATx and several leading expert consultants on improving access to substance abuse and co-occurring mental health disorder services for incarcerated offenders. Applications are due by February 26th, 2012.
Click here for more information about NIATx. Click here to download the solicitation and application
SAMHSA recently announced a new working definition of recovery from mental disorders and substance use disorders. The definition is the product of a year-long effort by SAMHSA and a wide range of partners in the behavioral health care community and other fields to develop a working definition of recovery that captures the essential, common experiences of those recovering from mental disorders and substance use disorders. Major guiding principles support the recovery definition. SAMHSA led this effort as part of its Recovery Support Strategic Initiative.
The new working definition of Recovery From Mental Disorders and Substance Use Disorders is as follows:
A process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential.
Through the Recovery Support Strategic Initiative, SAMHSA also has delineated four major dimensions that support a life in recovery:
- Health: Overcoming or managing one's disease(s) as well as living in a physically and emotionally healthy way.
- Home: A stable and safe place to live.
- Purpose: Meaningful daily activities, such as a job, school, volunteerism, family caretaking, or creative endeavors, and the independence, income, and resources to participate in society.
- Community: Relationships and social networks that provide support, friendship, love, and hope.
Click here for the full press release
“This report presents data on mental and substance use disorders among adult males on correctional supervised release–parole or probation–from local, state and federal prisons and jails. It examines issues that have grown increasingly salient with the rising costs associated with managing the growing community- and facility-based criminal justice population” (p. 1). Results are given for: trends in the number of probationers and parolees; substance use, dependence and abuse and unmet treatment need among probationers; rates of mental disorders among parolees and probationers over time; past month illicit drug use, substance dependence or abuse among probationers; past month illicit drug use, substance dependence or abuse among paroles and supervised releases; past year treatment for an alcohol or illicit drug use problem for probationers; past year treatment for an alcohol or illicit drug use problem for parolees and supervised releases; past year mental health and treatment measures for probationers; and past year mental health and treatment measures for parolees and supervised releases. From 2002 through 2009 the rates of drug use and drug dependence and rates of mental illness were almost three times more for parolees and those offenders on parole or supervised release than the general U.S. population. While access to substance abuse treatment increased there was a significant gap between mental health services and unmet need.
Click here to download the full report.
The Clinical Psychiatry News posted an article by Neil Osterweil outlining the prevalence of severe mental disorders in jails and prisons.
U.S. correctional institutions are estimated to be housing 1 million men and women with serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or a major affective disorder, investigators reported at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.
The estimated prevalence of serious mental disorders among U.S. inmates ranges from 7% to 16%. Men with mental illness are four times more likely to be incarcerated than the general population, and women with mental illness have an eightfold higher risk, reported Georgia Stathopoulou, Ph.D., and her colleagues from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, both in Boston.
The Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) has named its 2011 grantees under the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP), which was authorized by the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004 (MIOTCRA).
The 2011 grantees represent 40 jurisdictions from 35 states and territories. Of these, nine communities received planning grants with a maximum award of $50,000 for 12 months. 27 received planning and implementation grants, with a maximum award of $250,000 for 30 months. Six communities received expansion grants, with a maximum award of $200,000 for 24 months. All grants required a joint application from a mental health agency and the unit of government responsible for criminal and/or juvenile justice activities.
The Council of State Governments Justice Center's Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project will provide technical assistance to the new grantees.
This is the seventh round of grantees funded through MIOTCRA. Through funds appropriated in FY2010, BJA awarded 62 grants in 39 states. Through funds appropriated in FY2009, BJA awarded 43 grants in 30 states under JMHCP. Through funds appropriated in FY 2008, BJA awarded 23 grants in 18 states (and Guam) under the JMHCP. Read more about previous JMHCP grantees on the Consensus Project’s local programs database.
Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that 118 programs have been selected to receive funding in 2011 under the Second Chance Act (SCA). Grantees include both local and state governments and nonprofit organizations.
The selection process was highly competitive. According to Laurie O. Robinson, Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, DOJ received more than 1,000 applications for Second Chance funding this year.
These grant awards are posted at the Office of Justice Programs web site
- Fiscal Year 2011 Grant Awards Office of Justice Programs' program grants funded through the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2010, Public Law 111-117. Click here to view all the awards ordered by state, and here to view all the awards ordered by solicitation title.
To see the list of Second Chance Act grant recipients, click on one of the specific grant tracks listed below.
Mentoring Grants
Funding under this section helps nonprofit organizations and federally recognized Indian tribes implement mentoring projects to promote the safe and successful reintegration into the community of adults and juveniles who have been incarcerated.
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Adult Mentoring
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Adult Mentoring, “Promoting Successful Reentry Through Responsible Fatherhood/Motherhood”
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Juvenile Mentoring
Demonstration Grants
Funding under this section helps state and local agencies implement projects and strategies to reduce recidivism and ensure the safe and successful reentry of adults and juveniles released from prisons, jails, or youth detention facilities back to the community.
Family-Based Substance Abuse Treatment Grants
Funding under this section helps state and local government agencies and federally recognized Indian tribes establish or enhance residential substance abuse treatment projects in correctional facilities that include family supportive services.
Adult Offenders with Co-Occurring Substance Abuse and Mental Health Disorders
This section’s funding helps state and local government agencies and federally recognized Indian tribes establish or enhance residential substance abuse treatment programs in correctional facilities that include aftercare and recovery supportive services.
Reentry Courts
This section’s funding helps state and local government agencies and federally recognized Indian tribes establish state, local, and tribal reentry courts monitor offenders and provide them with the treatment services necessary to establish a self-sustaining and law-abiding life.
Technology Careers
Funding under this section helps state and local governments and federally recognized Indian tribes to establish programs to train individuals in prisons, jails, or juvenile residential facilities for technology-based jobs and careers during the three-year period before their release.
In addition to these awards, other reentry research and technical assistance Second Chance Act awards were announced.
Society pays a significant cost for individuals' abuse of drugs and alcohol. The consequences of illicit drug use impact the entire criminal justice system, taxing resources at each stage of the arrest, adjudication, incarceration and post-release supervision process. Drug law violations constitute a substantial portion of incarcerations in state and local correctional facilities. To alleviate the burden that drug use and abuse puts on the nation's criminal justice system, many jurisdictions have developed drug courts or other diversion programs aimed at breaking the drug addiction and crime cycle. The August 2011 NTTAC newsletter discusses the training and technical assistance resources that are available to address drug and alcohol abuse - and drug-involved offenders and the court system in particular.
On July 29, 2011, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Attorney General Eric Holder signed a memorandum of agreement to combat alcohol and substance abuse among American Indian/Alaska Native tribes by establishing a office within the U.S. Department of Health and Human ServicesÂ’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The new Office of Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse, created as a result of the passage of the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010, will coordinate the efforts of American Indian and Alaskan Native communities and federal agencies to address alcohol and substance abuse.
As part of its substance abuse efforts, the Office of Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse will emphasize programs geared toward reaching youth and offering alternatives to incarceration.
The Council of State Governments Justice Center Criminal Justice/Mental Health Collaboration Project July 2011 E-Newsletter features the Justice Center New Brief on Enrolling People with serious mental illnesses (SMI) for federal benefits. Click here to download the July 2011 E-Newsletter.
National Drug Control Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske has released the 2011 National Drug Control Strategy. The Strategy reflects the Obama Administration's comprehensive and balanced efforts to reduce drug use and its consequences.
NewsOn6 in Tulsa, OK reports on Oklahoma Department of Correction's program to divert mentally ill inmates from prison.
Click here for the article. Click here for the video report.
ASCA polled member agencies about current issues facing corrections in November and December and ASCA members discussed current issues during the 2010 All Directors Training held in San Francisco, CA on December 3 and 4, 2010. The information collected from these two forums was used to update the ASCA Current Issues Document. The results of the poll and discussion at All Directors Training have been incorporated in to a new Current Issues Document that shows that dealing with budget cuts continue to be the leading issue facing corrections agencies today. Click on this link to download the full report.