Mental Health in Jails and Prisons

According toThe Center for Health and Justice at TASC (CHJ) , across the United States, criminal justice systems are managing record numbers of people with rates of substance use and mental health disorders that are exponentially higher than those of the general public. Now more than ever, and often with strong public support, legislators, prosecutors, judges, court administrators, corrections and probation officials, and the jurisdictions they serve are responding with community-based diversion alternatives, often incorporating substance use and mental health service or program components.

The collective scope and variety of existing diversion programs across the country reflect a policy and political context that is increasingly receptive to the benefits of safely diverting individuals – who in many cases are drug-involved or have mental health problems or both – out of costly jail or prison incarceration, and away from conviction and its lifelong collateral consequences, into programs that more effectively and efficiently address the behavioral health conditions underlying their criminal behaviors.

In many ways, modern justice policy is beginning to adopt public health strategies, focusing on broad-based, systemic intervention, and the application of the minimum but appropriate amount of supervision, sanctions, accountability, services, and resources to achieve the intended result. The advent of federal health care reform under the Affordable Care Act, which includes requirements and resources for the provision of addiction treatment and mental health services at parity with medical services, offers the prospect of applying a public health approach at scale to the longstanding challenges that occur at the intersection of crime, substance use disorders, and mental illness.

The advent of federal health care reform under the Affordable Care Act, which includes requirements and resources for the provision of addiction treatment and mental health services at parity with medical services, furthers the evolution of justice policy, offering real promise toward building the community capacity necessary for successful diversion interventions. It offers the prospect of applying a public health approach at scale to the longstanding challenges that occur at the intersection of crime, substance use disorders, and mental illness.

As the continuum of alternatives has increased, so too has the importance of understanding what works, and of applying promising and evidence-based practices. Rather than begin from scratch each time a program is developed, policymakers, stakeholders, and practitioners look to other jurisdictions for programs and ideas that can be adapted to respond to the nuances and needs of their own justice and community environment. Over the last several years, a number of government agencies, policy and research organizations, and associations have begun to identify and catalog these programs for various purposes based on various criteria.

Veterans Justice Project was founded by Timothy Pena, a service-connected disabled veteran with PTSD. A condition that resulted in a two-year prison term for a first-time marijuana possession. VJP now assists other justice-involved and incarcerated veterans with resources, forms and information while also advocating for the expansion of felony Veterans Treatment Courts.