National Reentry Resource Center
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.
The National Reentry Resource Center has made available the attached Second Chance Helpful Resources including publications and websites.
In fiscal year 2009, $25 million was appropriated for Second Chance Act programs, including $15 million for state and local reentry demonstration projects and $10 million for grants to nonprofit organizations for mentoring and other transitional services.
Click to link to the Second Chance Act Appropriations Update
The Second Chance Resource Center offers technical assistance to both Second Chance Grantees and non-grantees. Click this link to go to the Reentry Resource Center's Training and Technical Assistance page.
Substance Abuse Resources
The National Institute of Justice has posted a recorded of the NIJ Research for the Real World Seminar "Changing the Behavior of Drug-Involved Offenders: Supervision That Works." The seminar was presented on December 18, 2012, by Angela Hawken, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics and Policy Analysis, Pepperdine University, and Mark Kleiman, Ph.D.Professor of Public Policy, University of California, Los Angeles.
About the Seminar
A small number of offenders who are heavily involved in drugs commit a large portion of the crime in this country. An evaluation of a "smart supervision" effort in Hawaii that uses swift and certain sanctioning showed that heavily involved drug offenders can indeed change their behavior when the supervision is properly implemented.
Drs. Angela Hawken and Mark Kleiman evaluated Hawaii's swift and certain supervision program, more commonly referred to as Hawaii HOPE. They discussed what they learned and how the principles of HOPE are being applied elsewhere.
They discussed, for example, the kinds of offenders who are now being supervised under HOPE-style programs in Hawaii and on the mainland. They also discussed the important unanswered research questions, such as: the psychological mechanisms that underlie the dramatic behavior changes, the minimum effective sanction, whether sanctions should escalate, and when revocation is appropriate. They also discussed the wider implications for juveniles, alcoholics, pretrial releases and prisoners, as well as the appropriate role of the federal government.
Click here to watch the seminar.
Read the transcript of the event.
The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center has released Adults with Behavioral Health Needs under Correctional Supervision: A Shared Framework for Reducing Recidivism and Promoting Recovery. The report is written for policymakers, administrators, and service providers committed to improving outcomes for the large number of adults with mental health and substance use disorders that cycle through the criminal justice system. It introduces an evidence-based framework for prioritizing scarce resources based on assessments of individuals’ risk of committing a future crime and their treatment and support needs. The report also outlines the principles and practices of the substance abuse, mental health, and corrections systems and proposes a structure for state and local agencies to build collaborative responses.
The report introduces a framework that can be used at the corrections and behavioral health systems level to prioritize scarce resources based on objective assessments of individuals’ risk of committing a future crime and their treatment and support needs. The report on the Criminogenic Risk and Behavioral Health Needs Framework was supported by the U.S. Justice Department’s National Institute of Corrections (NIC) and Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), and by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). It was developed in partnership with the
- Association of State Correctional Administrators,
- National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors,
- National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors,
- American Probation and Parole Association, and other organizations and national experts.
“NIC recognizes the care of inmates with mental health and/or substance abuse diagnoses as a top priority for the nation’s correctional systems. Our support of the framework is indicative of the need for corrections to have comprehensive tools that guide practitioners through effective decision making, program planning, and treatment. The framework is one of many methods and processes that will aid in this endeavor. NIC is pleased to be part of these efforts,” said Director Morris Thigpen.
The framework white paper and summary, a FAQ, link to the press release, and other resources can be found at www.csgjusticecenter.org/mentalhealth/bhcorrframework.
A webinar will be held October 2, 2012 to introduce the framework and how it can be used. Click here for information and a registration link.
The report and related materials were supported by the National Institute of Corrections, Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. They were developed in partnership with the Association of State Correctional Administrators, National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors, the American Probation and Parole Association, and other organizations and national experts. Single hard copies can be ordered while supplies last from NCJRS (www.ncjrs.gov, NCJ# 239596).
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.
Washington - The U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ's) Office of Justice Programs' (OJP) Bureau of Justice Assistance and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS') Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) awarded nearly $76 million in Fiscal Year 2010 grants to enhance the court services, coordination, and substance abuse treatment capacity of adult and juvenile drug treatment courts. Drug courts promote treatment approaches rather than traditional incarceration for people drawn into the criminal justice system because of substance abuse related problems. Click here to download full report.
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has published "Substance Use and Delinquent Behavior Among Serious Adolescent Offenders."
This bulletin presents results from the Pathways to Desistance study, which interviewed more than 1,300 juvenile offenders for the 7 years after their conviction to determine what leads them to persist in or desist from serious offending. It focuses on understanding the connection between substance use and serious offending, including how these behaviors affect one another in adolescence and how they change in early adulthood, particularly when one behavior ceases.
These days, Casal Ventoso is an ordinary blue-collar community - mothers push baby strollers, men smoke outside cafes, buses chug up and down the cobbled main street.
Ten years ago, the Lisbon neighborhood was a hellhole, a "drug supermarket" where some 5,000 users lined up every day to buy heroin and sneaked into a hillside honeycomb of derelict housing to shoot up. In dark, stinking corners, addicts - some with maggots squirming under track marks - staggered between the occasional corpse, scavenging used, bloody needles.
At that time, Portugal, like the junkies of Casal Ventoso, had hit rock bottom: An estimated 100,000 people - an astonishing 1 percent of the population - were addicted to illegal drugs. So, like anyone with little to lose, the Portuguese took a risky leap: They decriminalized the use of all drugs in a groundbreaking law in 2000.
Now, the United States, which has waged a 40-year, $1 trillion war on drugs, is looking for answers in tiny Portugal, which is reaping the benefits of what once looked like a dangerous gamble. White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske visited Portugal in September to learn about its drug reforms, and other countries - including Norway, Denmark, Australia and Peru - have taken interest, too.
Click here for the full article.
Director Kerlikowske and HHS Assistant Secretary for Health, Dr. Howard Koh, Discuss Prevention In This New Video.
The National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors September Public Policy Update.
This monograph was developed in 2008 and is intended to strengthen and improve the dissemination of evidence-based rehabilitative technologies for offenders, within the multidisciplinary context of correctional treatment. The goals of the monograph are: 1. To provide a conceptual framework for understanding effective clinical practices with clients in the criminal justice system, including evidence-based practice, controversies inherent in the determination of what evidence-based practice means, and critical thinking and ethical decision-making; 2. To examine what is known about effective practice in corrections and how these empirically supported models and principles should be integrated into behavioral healthcare for offenders (i.e. correctional treatment); 3. To review what works generally in behavioral healthcare for different problems the 'common factors' such as the therapeutic relationship and instillation of hope and how to apply this knowledge responsibly to the offender population; and 4. To discuss some of the specific modalities that are widely considered evidence-based clinical practices for clients in the criminal justice system, such as Motivational Interviewing, Contingency Management, and empirically supported psychopharmacology, among many others.
Click here to download the Effective Clinical Practices in the Criminal Justice Setting Monograph
Today's Email Update will focus on the results of the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Each year during Recovery Month in September, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) publishes the findings from NSDUH – the Nation's primary source of information on the prevalence, patterns, and consequences of substance use and abuse in the general U.S. population, ages 12 years and older. Conducted annually by SAMHSA, NSDUH is a scientific survey of approximately 67,500 people throughout the country.
Related Links:
ONDCP National Survey on Drug Use and Health webpage
Director Kerlikowske's Video Message
ONDCP Fact Sheet: 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health
2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health – Full Report
SAMSHA and ONC at HHS recently released an FAQs related to Substance Abuse information as it relates to electronic health records and their use by Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) (CFR 42 Part 2). Attached This FAQ may be helpful information for confidentiality discussions between corrections officials and service providers involved in the leveraging corrections information for reentry purposes. Click here to download the Substance Abuse and Health Information Exchange Frequently Asked Questions.
The National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) produced a report titled Results of Criminal Justice Inquiry in February 2009.
This inquiry finds that much of the population served by substance abuse agencies is often involved with and referred from criminal justice agencies. Single State Authorities (SSAs) report that they spend a significant portion of their Federal and State resources those referred from criminal justice agencies.
In recognition of this interrelatedness, SSA's report that they enter into many different types of collaborative activities with criminal justice agencies, such as re-entry initiatives, probation and parole programs, drug courts, and treatment within correctional institutions.
The large majority of SSA respondents indicated that they have developed positive collaborative relationships with criminal justice agencies.
Barriers to collaboration and difficulties in gaining access to treatment are also explored, in the hope that these collaborative relationships can continue to improve.
In May 2009, ASCA Substance Abuse Committee Chair, Tim Reisch, invited representatives from eleven jurisdictions across the country to meet in Chicago in order to review and discuss current practices in correctional substance abuse treatment with several goals in mind. Those goals were to:
• Develop an inventory of current approaches to correctional substance abuse treatment;
• Identify evidence-based and promising practices;
• Determining gaps in services; and
• Suggest courses of action to fill those gaps.
The attached document is the result of this group’s efforts to summarize our understanding of current evidence-based and promising practices for substance abuse treatment with correctional populations. We hope that others will find this document to be a useful reference and we invite others to further develop and improve our work.
Click this link to view the Substance Abuse best practices white paper
On May 20-21, 2009, state corrections and substance abuse directors met at the Marriott Suites O’Hare in Rosemont, Illinois. The meeting was the latest in a series of BJA-funded meetings held by ASCA’s Substance Abuse Committee to collaborate on corrections, substance abuse, and mental health issues. The meeting brought together state corrections and substance abuse directors from ten states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, to share substance abuse modalities proven successful in facilitating offender recovery, re-entry, and reintegration. The day-and-a-half long meeting proceeded in a highly collaborative atmosphere and generated much enthusiasm among the participants. The jurisdictions in attendance included the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wyoming.
In 1998, CASA released its landmark report, Behind Bars: Substance Abuse and America's Prison Population, revealing that four out of five of America’s 1.7 million prison and jail inmates were substance involved in 1996. This report provides an update of that work, finding that despite growing evidence of effective strategies to reduce the prevalence and costs of substance-involved offenders, the burden of substance misuse and addiction to our nation’s criminal justice system actually has increased. Today 2.3 million adults are behind bars in America; 1.9 million are substance involved and almost two-thirds (64.5 percent) meet medical criteria for an alcohol or other drug use disorder.
Click this link to access the full CASA report Behind Bars II
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment produced a fact sheet demonstrating the cost offset of treatment services.
The Second Chance Resource Center has a variety of tools and resources for a variety of reentry programs including substance abuse.
Click this link to take you to the Reentry Resource Center's web page of substance abuse resources.
Mental Health Resources
The GAINS Center has developed a comprehensive database to identify the existing mental health courts in the United States. AS a living document, the information included in the database will be updated as needed. It includes: the location of each mental health court, the year established, target participants (e.g. felony, misdemeanor, violent/non), approximate annual enrollments (or total enrollments), and necessary contact information. The database was completed in December 2012. Click here to link to the interactive map of Adult Mental Health Treatment Courts.
WASHINGTON – The Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) today announced it awarded $27 million under the Drug Court Program and the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) in Fiscal Year 2012. These two BJA programs provide assistance and support for states, tribes and localities offering specialized services for individuals within the justice system who have substance abuse and mental health disorders.
“People with mental illnesses often cycle repeatedly through courtrooms, jails, and prisons that are ill-equipped to address their needs and, in particular, to provide adequate treatment. BJA has been exploring new ways of responding to these individuals to break this costly and damaging cycle,” said BJA Director Denise E. O’Donnell. “BJA has an entire portfolio dedicated to addressing the revolving door of justice for individuals with behavioral health needs.”
Click here for the full BJA announcing FY12 awards for drug courts and Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program.
The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center has released Adults with Behavioral Health Needs under Correctional Supervision: A Shared Framework for Reducing Recidivism and Promoting Recovery. The report is written for policymakers, administrators, and service providers committed to improving outcomes for the large number of adults with mental health and substance use disorders that cycle through the criminal justice system. It introduces an evidence-based framework for prioritizing scarce resources based on assessments of individuals’ risk of committing a future crime and their treatment and support needs. The report also outlines the principles and practices of the substance abuse, mental health, and corrections systems and proposes a structure for state and local agencies to build collaborative responses.
The report introduces a framework that can be used at the corrections and behavioral health systems level to prioritize scarce resources based on objective assessments of individuals’ risk of committing a future crime and their treatment and support needs. The report on the Criminogenic Risk and Behavioral Health Needs Framework was supported by the U.S. Justice Department’s National Institute of Corrections (NIC) and Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), and by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). It was developed in partnership with the
- Association of State Correctional Administrators,
- National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors,
- National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors,
- American Probation and Parole Association, and other organizations and national experts.
“NIC recognizes the care of inmates with mental health and/or substance abuse diagnoses as a top priority for the nation’s correctional systems. Our support of the framework is indicative of the need for corrections to have comprehensive tools that guide practitioners through effective decision making, program planning, and treatment. The framework is one of many methods and processes that will aid in this endeavor. NIC is pleased to be part of these efforts,” said Director Morris Thigpen.
The framework white paper and summary, a FAQ, link to the press release, and other resources can be found at www.csgjusticecenter.org/mentalhealth/bhcorrframework.
A webinar will be held October 2, 2012 to introduce the framework and how it can be used. Click here for information and a registration link.
The report and related materials were supported by the National Institute of Corrections, Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. They were developed in partnership with the Association of State Correctional Administrators, National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors, the American Probation and Parole Association, and other organizations and national experts. Single hard copies can be ordered while supplies last from NCJRS (www.ncjrs.gov, NCJ# 239596).
People arrested in Washington, DC often pass through the justice system without having their mental health needs identified, a new research study from Vera’s Substance Use and Mental Health Program (SUMH) reports.
Working with information from four DC criminal justice agencies and the District’s Department of Mental Health for people arrested in June 2008, Vera researchers have compiled an unprecedented dataset. The report highlights missed opportunities to identify mental health needs among a vulnerable population that often cycles through pretrial services, the courts, jail or prison, and probation without treatment.
The report, Closing the Gap: Using Criminal Justice and Public Health Data to Improve the Identification of Mental Illness, recommends information-sharing among relevant justice and mental health agencies—when appropriate—to capitalize on opportunities for early identification and to help ensure continuity of care for those involved in the DC criminal justice system who might benefit from mental health services, including community-based programs.
Click here to download the full report.
Click here for a report fact sheet.
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 Bureau of Justice Assistance's (BJA) National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) is excited to highlight this month's BJA program area: mental health. Each month, our newsletter series features a key BJA program area to increase awareness of the resources and training and technical assistance available to the criminal justice field. Click here to download the May 2011 BJA NTTAC Newsletter.
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.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has established seclusion and restraint as a priority area and has developed a National Action Plan to reach our vision of seclusion and restraint free mental health services. Roadmap to Seclusion and Restraint Free Mental Health Services represents a key component of this National Action Plan. It will increase the knowledge and skills of mental health service direct care staff, administrators, and consumers on alternatives to the use of seclusion and restraint. We also see this training as a tool to assist you with mental health system transformation—creating mental health services and supports that facilitate recovery and promote resiliency.
Many training manuals exist, but this curriculum is unique. The President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health called for consumer- and family-driven approaches that support recovery. The material in this manual is recovery based and developed by consumers. It draws on the published writings and research of the leaders in the recovery movement— consumers. It was developed with the assistance of the National Association of Consumer/Survivor Mental Health Administrators, and consumers from around the country were asked to provide insight derived from their experiences of seclusion and restraint and offer their guidance for the elimination of these practices. The expert opinion of direct care staff was also gathered and current literature on the topic was reviewed so that references could be provided. A Steering Committee, comprised of representatives from nearly every stakeholder organization within the mental health system, provided technical assistance and insight. Finally, the training was pilot tested with direct care staff and administration at two hospitals.
Click here to download a copy of Roadmap to Seclusion and Restraint Free Mental Health Services.
Reposted with permission of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, Maryland, www.samhsa.gov.
Julian Ford and Robert L. Trestman; and Fred Osher, Jack E. Scott, Henry J. Steadman, and Pamela Clark Robbins
Mental Health Screens for Corrections reports on two projects to create and validate mental health screening instruments that corrections staff can use during intake. The researchers created short questionnaires that accurately identify inmates who require mental health interventions. One mental health screen was found to be effective for men and is being adapted for women; the other has effective versions for both men and women. The screening instruments are reproduced in the appendixes.
Click here to download a copy of Mental Health Screens for Corrections (1.2 MB).
Reposted with permission of the National Institute of Justice, www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij.
The purpose of this project by Fred Osher, Jack E. Scott, Henry J. Steadman and Pamela Clark Robbins was to validate a jail mental health screening instrument that can be utilized by correctional classification staff to identify adult inmates during the booking phase that may require a more detailed mental health assessment. Since 1986, there has been a 250% increase in the size of the U.S. jail population, with epidemiologic data suggesting that prevalence rates of persons with mental illnesses in jail are 3- 5 times higher then the general population. The risk of suicide is an especially significant problem, particularly among new detainees. Suicide rates among jail and prison populations are higher than among the general population. About one-third of all jail suicides occur within the first week in custody, underscoring the importance of early identification. In addition, jail administrators report that inmates with mental illnesses are significantly more difficult to manage resulting in increased jail cost. Early identification could allow improvement in classification and management strategies. Jails have a substantial legal obligation to provide health and mental health care for inmates, yet screening procedures across American jails are highly variable. Currently, there is no valid, practical, standardized tool available. The Referral Decision Scale (RDS) had been previously tested as a screening instrument but was found to have significant concerns related to its predictive validity. Building upon RDS studies, we developed a revised instrument called the Brief Jail Mental Health Screen (BJMHS), testing it in both prisons and jails in Maryland and New York. The BJMHS takes an average of 2.5 minutes to administer, correctly classifying 73.5% of males, but only 61.6% of females based on SCID diagnoses. With suggested cut-off scores, the BJMHS identifies 11% of screened detainees for further mental health assessment. Conclusions: The study concluded that the BJMHS is a practical, efficient tool for jail correction officer intake screening for male detainees. While an improvement over other screening instruments for all inmates, it has an unacceptably high false negative rate for female detainees.
The goal of this project by Julian Ford, Ph.D. and Robert L. Trestman, M.D., Ph.D. was to develop and validate a brief mental health screening instrument suitable for use by correctional custody or healthcare staff in identifying jail detainees who warrant specialized mental health evaluation for undetected psychiatric impairment. Participants included English-speaking women (N=670) and Men (N=1526), 40% Black, 20% Hispanic, 40% White, ages 18-76 years old, who had no institutionally-identified serious mental health condition, were randomly recruited 24-72 hours after entry to jail. A randomly selected sub-sample (201 women; 307 men) received a structured diagnostic interview within five days. All data collection occurred in state-run jails for men (four sites) and women (one site) in the State of Connecticut, with data collection techniques involving the administration of a 25-minute “Composite Screening” interview in Phase 1. 20% of participants were then invited to complete a longer, more intensive “Structured Interview” one week later, which established a more detailed account of Axis I and Axis II psychiatric disorders and psychosocial functioning. Correctional Records Data was also obtained including Mental Health Scores and Overall Risk Scores. In Phase 2, the newly developed Screening Tool was then tested on an additional 206 participants, following the same protocol as in Phase 1. Exploratory (EFA) and Confirmatory (CFA) Factor Analyses were calculated to derive the best subset of items to be used in the brief mental health screen. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive power were calculated for the results of empirically-derived gender-differentiated brief screening instruments in relation to psychiatric diagnoses obtained by blind researchers using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I disorders (SCID-P) and the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale as criterion standards. Results. The main outcome measures derived from this project are: The Correctional Mental Health Screen for Females (CMHS-F; 8 items) and The Correctional Mental Health Screen for Males (CMHS-M, 12 items). Epidemiology of mental health disorders is also reported. Conclusions: This new brief screening tool is designed to expedite the process of accurately identifying individuals in the correctional system with mental illness. Dissemination of this tool can help to standardize screening practices nationwide. Prevalence rates of psychological disorders were found to be comparable to those found in psychiatric settings, and timely, proper identification of psychological illness in jails can aid in the treatment process for these individuals.
Click here to download these revised instruments:
About half of the roughly 26,000 inmates across the Oklahoma incarceration system are seriously mentally ill or have a documented history of serious mental illness. More than 4,500 system-wide receive medication for mental illness. The Department of Corrections has about 28 psychologists and psychiatrists working in state prisons. In this article, Dr. Powitzky discusses the issue of the mentally ill in prison. Click here for the full article.
The Council of State Governments, with support from BJA, has released Information Sharing in Criminal Justice-Mental Health Collaborations: Working with HIPAA and Other Privacy Laws. Click Here to download the document.
Madison, Wis. (Sept. 22, 2010) – The Chief Justice's Task Force on Criminal Justice and Mental Health has issued a comprehensive assessment and report of recommendations for improving the criminal justice system’s response to persons with mental illness.
The report is the result of six months of work by an 80-member task force assigned by Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson to document existing programs, challenges, gaps and opportunities for improvement in systemic responses to people with mental illness. A copy of the report is available on the task force's web page: www.wicourts.gov/about/organization/programs/altmentalhealth.htm
“Mental illness is one of the most significant underlying issues faced by many individuals who become involved with the court system. This report provides valuable insight and direction on how to improve our responses, not only for the individuals involved, but for the entire criminal justice system,” Abrahamson said.
The initiative is part of a national project designed to encourage collaborative efforts and assist state supreme court justices in guiding efforts in their state. Wisconsin was selected to participate through a competitive process overseen by the Council of State Governments' Justice Center.
Task force members included law enforcement, legislators, judges, district attorneys, public defenders, Department of Corrections and Department of Health Service’s staff, jail administrators, state mental health directors, local mental health providers, lawyers, non-profit organizations, consumers, hospital administrators and counsel, county board members and county executives, and mental health advocates.
The task force recommends, among other things, a collaborative model be used to identify at early stages in criminal proceedings persons with mental illnesses and to replicate effective local programs in other counties. Abrahamson will convene a small committee of interested persons to focus on the implementation of some of the initiatives highlighted in the report.
The Chief Justices' Criminal Justice Mental Health Leadership Initiative was established with staff support from the Council of State Governments' Justice Center and the Center for Mental Health Services’ NationalGAINSCenter, with funding from the JEHT and Conrad Hilton Foundations, as well as the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance.
The Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project, coordinated by the Council of State Governments' Justice Center, is an unprecedented, national effort to help local, state, and federal policymakers and criminal justice and mental health professionals improve the response to people with mental illnesses who come into contact with the criminal justice system.
The landmark Consensus Project Report, which was written by Justice Center staff and representatives of leading criminal justice and mental health organizations, was released in June 2002. Since then, Justice Center staff working on the Consensus Project have supported the implementation of practical, flexible criminal justice/mental health strategies through on-site technical assistance; the dissemination of information about programs, research, and policy developments in the field; continued development of policy recommendations; and educational presentations.
Identifying entering inmates’ mental health needs when they first enter an institution is critical to providing necessary services and enhancing safety in corrections settings. The purpose of the two projects discussed in this report was to create and validate mental health screening instruments corrections staff can use during intake.
The researchers created short questionnaires that accurately identify inmates who require mental health interventions. One mental health screen was found to be effective for men and is being adapted for women; the other has effective versions for both men and women.
Click on the link to the view the 2007 Mental Health Screens for Corrections
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Collaboration
On Wednesday, February 2, 2011, the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) released an issue brief outlining core federal policy priorities pertaining to health reform. Click here to download the full brief.
ASCA, NASADAD,and NASMHPD are working with CSG to develop a Framework for Targeting Scarce Behavioral Health/Criminal Justice Resources to the Highest Risk/Highest Need Populations. Click here to download the DRAFT concept paper that describes the focus of that effort.
ASCA Resources
The Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA) conducts a semi-annual survey of its membership to identify the current issues faced by correctional agencies and their relative priority. In June and July 2011, ASCA conducted a survey of members to identify and rate the level of importance of the top four issues facing their agencies and to rate issues identified in previous surveys to determine the continuing relevance of these issues for their agencies. Twenty-seven agencies responded to the survey. Click here for the report of the June 2011 Current Issues in Corrections Survey.
ASCA polled member agencies in May and June 2010 to update the Current Issues Document that was developed during the Special Issues Seminar and All Directors Training held in Charleston, SC in December. The result of the poll have been incorporated in to a new Current Issues Document. Dealing with Mentally Ill Offenders is identified as the second highest priority item by the responding agencies. Click this link to access the June 2010 Current Issues Report.
Events and News
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Committee met in Phoenix, AZ on January 21, 2012. Acting Chair Robert Lampert (WY) reviewed the ongoing projects that are overseen by the Committee. The project related to identifying Evidence Based Practices prompted a lively discussion of how to define evidence based practices. Click here for the minutes from the January 21, 2012 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.
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.
Representatives from the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) met on October 3, 2006 to discuss how to link SAMHSA and corrections to provide more efficient and cost effective services for mentally ill and addicted inmates in the institution and upon release.
On May 20-21, 2009, state corrections and substance abuse directors met at the Marriott Suites O’Hare in Rosemont, Illinois. The meeting was the latest in a series of BJA-funded meetings held by ASCA’s Substance Abuse Committee to collaborate on corrections, substance abuse, and mental health issues. The meeting brought together state corrections and substance abuse directors from ten states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, to share substance abuse modalities proven successful in facilitating offender recovery, re-entry, and reintegration. The day-and-a-half long meeting proceeded in a highly collaborative atmosphere and generated much enthusiasm among the participants. The jurisdictions in attendance included the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wyoming.
During the NASADAD/NPN/NTN 2011 annual meeting held in Indianapolis, Indiana, elections were held to choose new leadership.
- President - Mark Stringer, Missouri;
- First Vice President - David Dickerson, Washington State;
- Vice President for Internal Affairs - Barbara Cimaglio, Vermont;
- Secretary - Michael Botticelli, Massachusetts;
- Treasurer - Robin Rothermel, Pennsylvania;
- Past President - Flo Stein, North Carolina.
Click here for more information about the new Officers and the new slate of Regional Directors.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance's (BJA) National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) is excited to highlight this month's BJA program area: mental health. Each month, our newsletter series features a key BJA program area to increase awareness of the resources and training and technical assistance available to the criminal justice field. Click here to download the May 2011 BJA NTTAC Newsletter.
The Substance Abuse and Mental health Committee met on January 29, 2011 in San Antonio, TX. The Committee received updates on ongoing and recently completed projects and discussed possible funding opportunities to continue the work of the Committee, including a presentation from Michael Thompson from the Council of State Governments about a collaborative proposal being developed by ASCA and CSG. Click here for minutes from the meeting.
Click here for photos from the Winter 2011 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Committee meeting held on January 29, 2011 in San Antonio, TX,
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has published "Substance Use and Delinquent Behavior Among Serious Adolescent Offenders."
This bulletin presents results from the Pathways to Desistance study, which interviewed more than 1,300 juvenile offenders for the 7 years after their conviction to determine what leads them to persist in or desist from serious offending. It focuses on understanding the connection between substance use and serious offending, including how these behaviors affect one another in adolescence and how they change in early adulthood, particularly when one behavior ceases.
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 Services 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.
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.
The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, with assistance from a team of national experts and the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), has selected six police departments to act as national law enforcement/mental health learning sites—agencies that will help other jurisdictions across the country improve their responses to people with mental illnesses. Selected were the Houston (TX) Police Department, Los Angeles (CA) Police Department, Madison (WI) Police Department, Portland (ME) Police Department, Salt Lake City (UT) Police Department, and University of Florida Police Department.
“BJA is eager to partner with CSG and each of the agencies selected for this initiative to promote the sharing of expertise among law enforcement agencies in developing specialized responses to persons with mental illnesses,” says Acting Director James H. Burch, II. “We value the shared commitment these agencies bring to this initiative to ensure public safety and effective system responses to this critical issue.”
Law enforcement agencies often find they are responding repeatedly to complex and time-consuming calls involving individuals with mental illnesses who are cycling through the criminal justice system—with serious consequences for the individual; the officer; at times, the community; and criminal justice system resources. Jurisdictions across the county are implementing strategies to improve the outcomes of these encounters that include training and tools that can provide a response that prioritizes treatment over incarceration when appropriate. Examples of these strategies include Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), co-responder, and case management models. This learning site project, to be managed by the Justice Center, will help agencies share how to tailor these strategies to the specific needs of a jurisdiction to create safer and better outcomes from these encounters.
“There is nothing more tragic than seeing someone with a mental illness become involved with the criminal justice system primarily because he or she has not received adequate treatment in the community,” said Indianapolis Public Safety Director and Justice Center board member Frank Straub. “The learning site project creates a forum for policing officials to learn from one another how to prevent those rare, but horrific encounters that result in injury or death; reduce repeat calls that take officers off the streets for long periods; and better link individuals to services when appropriate.”
The six learning sites will host site visits from interested colleagues and other local and state government officials over a two-year period, answer questions from the field, and work with Justice Center staff to develop materials for practitioners and their community partners.
Additional information about the learning sites project, including information about how to request technical assistance from the sites, is available on the project's website at www.consensusproject.org/learningsites. Materials specifically about law enforcement strategies and related research can be found at www.consensusproject.org/issue_areas/law-enforcement. The Council of State Governments Justice Center is a national nonprofit organization that serves policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels from all branches of government. The Justice Center provides practical, nonpartisan advice and consensus-driven strategies, informed by available evidence, to increase public safety and strengthen communities (see www.justicecenter.csg.org).
The House passed the continuing resolution (CR) for the rest of the fiscal year by a 260-167 vote. The Senate followed quickly with a 81-19 vote, avoiding a government shutdown.
All Department of Justice (DOJ) programs were cut by 17 percent. Several programs were exempt from this cut, including the Office of Violence Against Women, National Institute of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Regional Information Sharing Systems, Justice for All, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s programs.
Council of State Government Justice Center priority programs—the Second Chance Act program, the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (MIOTCRA) program, and the Justice Reinvestment program—fall under state and local law enforcement assistance programs, which were cut by $434 million from the FY10 levels.
The ASCA Substance Abuse Committee met at the Marriott Waterside Hotel in Tampa, Florida on January 24, 2010. Topics discussed at the meeting Included discussion of the final project report from the BJA grant to develop collaboration between mental health and substance abuse associations and ways to continue to foster collaboration. Gary Dennis from BJA updated members on the Second Chance Act.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Committee met at the ASCA Summer Meetings in Chicago on July 31, 2010. Acting Chair Bob Lampert (WY) led the discussion of several relevant ASCA projects including BJA funded Second Chance Resource Center (RRC), ASCA's role in the RRC the pre-Release Planning/Post Release Supervision Subcommittee and current efforts with CSG to continue the collaboration project with NASADAD and NASMHPD. Gary Dennis from BJA also briefed members on upcoming BJA grants. ASCA staff also gave a demonstration of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Committee web pages that were recently developed under the BJA Byrne Clearinghouse Grant. The committee also approved a new committee mission statement the includes adding Mental Health to the committee's mission.
Click here to review minutes from the Summer 2010 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Committee meeting minutes.