Blog Post

Mental Health in Jails and Prisons

  • By Timothy Pena
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  • 16 Oct, 2020
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Effective Diversion Programs Can Improve Long-Term Community Safety and Reduce Recidivism

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.

Suffering Mental Illness While Homeless

By Timothy Pena • October 9, 2024
In 1980, while serving with the Navy Seabees and attached to an amphibious assault ship USS San Bernadino (LST-1189) in the Persian Gulf during the Iranian Hostage Crisis, Marine Pfc. Bradley Johnson received a bad letter from home, obtained an M-16 from the armory sentry, and committed suicide if front of us. While the suicide was bad enough, the helicopter blew Johnson’s brain matter and blood all over the deck and gear providing a stark reminder for the rest of the WESTPAC.

Following years of struggling with PTSD, mental illness, and suicide ideation, a total mental health breakdown after an arrest for DUI and marijuana possession in October 2014 was the turning point but it wasn’t until 2015 that I got into treatment at the Phoenix VA Hospital. In 2016 I filed a claim for VA Disability, and in 2017 was awarded a 70% VA Disability rating for PTSD. After years of DUI’s resulting in years of jailtime and prison, the diagnosis provided me with some answers to what I was suffering and that the struggles I encountered over the past 35 years were real. The diagnosis also provided a path to mental health success and as a result, provided me an avenue of healing and treatment still to this day at the Manhattan VA Hospital.

The Forgotten Veteran

By Timothy Pena • October 8, 2024

Who is The Forgotten Veteran?

The Forgotten Veteran is incarcerated or homeless.

The Forgotten Veteran most likely experienced trauma while serving.

The Forgotten Veteran has unresolved issues with family & friends.

The Forgotten Veteran struggles with lingering drug/alcohol abuse issues and suffers mental illness.

The Forgotten Veteran struggles with suicide ideation.

The Forgotten Veteran is in the shadows but wants to be seen.

Russell Midori

By Timothy Pena • October 10, 2022
In just a couple of years, founders of Military Veterans in Journalism have put their organization on the map for journalists.

Be the Story_Entertaining Suicide

By Timothy Pena • October 4, 2022
Sometimes the most simple of situations can prevent a suicide

Be the Story_Re-Treating the Veteran

By Timothy Pena • September 27, 2022
The taxpayer is burdened with the cost of the VA system for a veteran, then while the veteran is in prison, then again when the veteran starts over

Be the Story_The Voucher System

By Timothy Pena • September 26, 2022
Since I am low-income with only my VA Disability, I will need to get housing vouchers.

Letters from Prison

By Alfred Shadid • June 1, 2022
It is estimated that for each ACI inmate worker, a community family loses a $25 an hour wage job

Prosecutors use Mental Health as a Means for Convictions

By Jared Keenan • December 27, 2020
In training materials recently obtained by the ACLU of Arizona, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) refers to the people it prosecutes using the slur “crazy”
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