New Mental Health Court in Harris County

The Houston Chronicle reports that Harris County judges have voted to get in line with the growing number of mental health courts nationwide ("Harris Judges Vote for Felony Mental Health Court," January 8, 2009).

According to the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project, "Mental health courts (MHCs) are specialized dockets that link defendants with mental illnesses to court-supervised, community-based treatment in lieu of traditional case processing." In The Essential Elements of a Mental Health Court, the authors note that "Mental health courts are a recent and rapidly expanding phenomenon. In the late 1990s only a few such courts were accepting cases. Since then, more than 150 others have been established, and dozens more are being planned." Other mental health courts in Texas have been established in Smith, Bexar, El Paso, Tarrant, and Dallas Counties.

Here's the full article:

Harris County's criminal district judges voted Wednesday to designate a full-time felony mental health court, which will likely focus on defendants diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and severe depression.

State District Judge Jan Krocker will preside over the court, the first of its kind in Harris County. A start date has not been determined. Funding is still needed, she said. She did not give an estimate, saying details must still be finalized.

About 30 percent of the defendants who come through Harris County's criminal courts have a mental illness, Krocker said. She expects many of those defendants also will need treatment for substance abuse.

"It is a tragedy both for society and the defendant when mentally ill offenders go through the system without treatment," Krocker said Wednesday. "The mental health court can rewrite some very sad stories so there are great endings."

Mental Health Association of Greater Houston President and CEO Betsy Schwartz lauded the move, noting that mental health courts have been in place for years in other parts of the country and have proved successful.

She said she hopes that the court will prevent some offenders from "recycling" through the system.

"Individuals with serious mental illness can be matched with case management and services in the mental health court and the judge will know them as a person, have a relationship with them," Schwartz said.

The new court might also help some veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder when they return to Houston from Iraq, Krocker said.

"We need to be prepared for the possibility that (some) may be mentally ill and homeless and may end up in the criminal justice system," Krocker said.

Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos, who recently took office, applauded the judges' decision. Lykos emphasized mental health treatment as a theme in her election campaign last year.

"I think this is a major initiative," Lykos said Wednesday. "The criminal justice system is the last institution available to deal with these individuals. It's the institution of last resort. This is a moral issue. It's a dollars and cents issue."

Krocker plans for mentally ill defendants to be assigned to her court immediately after they are charged with a criminal offense if they have previously been diagnosed with a mental illness in the criminal justice system through the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County.

Krocker also proposed that mentally ill defendants could be transferred to her court from another felony court if the judge, prosecutor and defense attorney involved in the case agree.

More than 7,700 defendants received psychotropic medications in Harris County in 2007, Krocker said. The Harris County Jail is the county's largest psychiatric hospital.

The court designation is one step in helping the mentally ill, Schwartz said, adding that other components must be in place.

"It can only be as good as the community support services that are available," Schwartz said.
***
Earlier posts on mental health courts are available here and here. More information is available from the Consensus Project.

Free Webinar: Law Enforcement and People with Mental Illnesses

On Tuesday, October 28, the Council of State Governments Justice Center, with support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, will sponsor a one-hour webinar during which "national experts in law enforcement and mental health will discuss effective crisis response models. They will outline how community behavioral health care providers and law enforcement can collaborate and tailor responses to the problems of their jurisdiction. The webinar spotlights Improving Responses to People with Mental Illnesses: The Essential Elements of a Specialized Law Enforcement-Based Program, a report supported by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice. Written by the Council of State Governments Justice Center and the Police Executive Research Forum, it highlights 10 key components for improving officers' encounters with individuals with mental illnesses."

Presenters include Captain Richard Wall, Los Angeles Police Department; Fred Osher, M.D., Director of Health Systems and Services Policy, CSG Justice Center; and Melissa Reuland, Senior Research Consultant, Police Executive Research Forum.

Registration is free but is limited to the first 1,000 people. To register, go to http://www2.eventsvc.com/nationalcouncil/, select the law enforcement/mental health event, and enter the coupon code COUNCIL at checkout.

If you are registering for a webinar for the first time, create a profile with the email and password of your choice. A confirmation with webinar access information will be sent to the email address you enter.

Participation will require Internet access and a phone line. Participants from the same location are encouraged to use a single phone line - one individual may register and get access information for the whole group.

Contact Communications@thenationalcouncil or call 301.984.6200 with questions.

For more information, go to http://consensusproject.org/updates/announcements-and-events/Oct2008/webinaroct08.

New Resources for Victims of Crimes Committed by People with Mental Illness

Last month, the Council of State Governments Justice Center published two guides on the rights of individuals who have been victimized by people with mental illnesses - the first ever national publications on this topic. Both were supported by the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

The first, Responding to People Who Have Been Victimized by Individuals with Mental Illnesses, details steps policymakers, advocates, and mental health professionals can take to understand and protect the rights and safety of these crime victims. It reflects the views of forensic directors, prosecutors, victim advocates, and victims of crimes committed by people with mental illnesses. The guide describes current policies and practices used in selected jurisdictions to respond to this group of victims, outlines barriers to upholding victims’ rights in such cases, and highlights action items for communities to consider.

The second report, A Guide to the Role of Crime Victims in Mental Health Courts, offers practical recommendations to mental health court practitioners about how to engage crime victims in case proceedings.

Go to http://justicecenter.csg.org/media/press_releases to read the full press releases for each guide.

Learn more and download both resources at http://consensusproject.org/issue-areas/victims/vpmi/. Hard copies can be ordered while supplies last through the National Criminal Justice Reference Service at www.ncjrs.gov (NCJ 223345).

Updates on Federal Legislation re Mental Illness

From the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project:

"On March 6, 2008, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee passed S. 2304, the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act (MIOTCRA). The legislation, introduced last year by Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Pete Domenici (R-NM), Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Arlen Specter (R-PA), will now be sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

The bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in January with overwhelming bipartisan support, will help provide states and counties with the resources needed to design and implement collaborative efforts between the criminal justice and mental health systems. The legislation offers grants to communities to develop diversion programs, mental health treatments in jails and prisons, and transition and aftercare services to facilitate reentry into the community. The bill also provides for the cross-training of criminal justice, law enforcement and mental health personnel.

With bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate, the legislation will raise the authorization level of MIOTCRA from $50 million per year to $75 million per year and will extend the authorization through 2014. The bill will also reauthorize the Mental Health Courts grant program (Public Law 106-515) and will require that a study be conducted on the prevalence of mental illness in prisons and jails."

More information is available from the Consensus Project.

Earlier posts on the MIOTCRA are available here and here.
***

And last week, the U.S. Senate passed the Second Chance Act (H.R. 1593) by unanimous consent. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the legislation last fall. The legislation would provide transitional assistance to ex-offenders in an effort to reduce a return to alcohol abuse. Additionally, the legislation would extend and provide a full continuum of care for treatment of substance use disorders and improve mental health screening and treatment.

"It is a national tragedy that jails and prisons have become the primary mental health care facilities in the United States today," said American Psychiatric Association President Carolyn Robinowitz, M.D. "This bi-partisan action represents significant steps forward in improving access to mental health services and substance abuse treatment programs for those incarcerated within the prison system."

Read the press release issued by the American Psychiatric Association.

Collaborative Grants Available

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), U.S. Department of Justice, has released its solicitation for fiscal year 2008 applications for Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program grants. The program was authorized by the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004 (MIOTCRA) and promotes coordination among criminal justice, juvenile justice, mental health, and substance abuse agencies.

The deadline for applications is May 6, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Visit the BJA website to download the applicant eligibility requirements, instructions on registering for the online grant application system, and other application materials.

Applicants should demonstrate a commitment to increasing public safety through innovative cross-system collaborations that improve responses to people with mental illnesses who come into contact with the criminal justice system. Eligible applicants are states, units of local government, Indian tribes, and tribal organizations.

Texas Chief Justice Task Force Sets Goals for 2008

Here's another item that appeared in the January 2008 newsletter of the Consensus Project:

"The Texas Chief Justice Task Force, led by the Honorable Sharon Keller, Presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, has set forth a series of goals for 2008 that will build on successes in the past year and improve outcomes for people with mental illnesses involved with the criminal justice system.

In 2007, the task force helped to bring about legislation that facilitated information-sharing among criminal justice and mental health agencies. The task force designed a system to identify in the Department of Public Safety records individuals who are also listed in the state mental health service database (Department of State Health Services; DSHS). Judge Keller and key task force members presented the system to the 80th Texas Legislature, and these recommendations and related funding were adopted in May 2007 (SB 839 by Senator Duncan, a member of the task force). The new information-sharing mechanism, which permits authorized jail personnel to gather additional information on individuals flagged as having prior contact with the public mental health system, is expected to be operational by September 2008.

Judge Keller’s task force now plans to recommend changes to the state’s reporting and jail intake processes. The goal is to identify as quickly as possible people arrested who have a mental health diagnosis or history of treatment and to transmit this information in a uniform manner to court officials while respecting individuals' privacy rights. These efforts will be coordinated with the new $82 million program for jail diversion run by the Department of State Health Services, another product of last year’s legislative session. This program will fund mobile response teams and a hotline that will provide mental health interventions for people identified at intake as potentially having mental illnesses.

Over the next year, the task force hopes to accomplish the following: recommend changes to the statewide jail intake form to add a new flagging mechanism to indicate potential mental illness; examine the legal changes necessary for court magistrates within 24 hours of arrest to order the completion of a uniform mental health report form; design and pilot this form; and recommend that legislation be enacted that makes it a requirement in Texas. The task force hopes that enhancing procedures to identify early at jail intake people who might need mental health treatment will ensure that jail personnel make use of the new diversion program and are able to determine which individuals need mental health interventions as early as possible.

Together, all of these advances will help to improve the process through which people with mental illnesses entering the criminal justice system are identified and connected to treatment services in Texas. The task force’s work has been made possible through the Chief Justices’ Criminal Justice/Mental Health Leadership Initiative, which is coordinated by the Council of State Governments Justice Center and GAINS Center and supported by the JEHT Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation."

U.S. House Passes Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act

Yesterday, January 23, 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act (MIOTCRRIA), H.R. 3992.

Here's a statement from leaders of the Council of State Governments Justice Center, which appears in the January 2008 newsletter of the Consensus Project.

"Leaders of the Council of State Governments Justice Center laud Members of the U.S. House of Representatives for passage yesterday of the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act (MIOTCRRIA), H.R. 3992.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), will make a significant commitment to addressing the needs of both the criminal justice system and individuals with mental illnesses who come into contact with it.

'The passage of the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act illustrates the extraordinary bipartisan consensus that exists among elected officials to increase the accessibility of integrated mental health and substance abuse treatment, and to promote collaborative efforts between criminal justice and mental health agencies,' said Dr. James S. Reinhard, Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, and a Justice Center board member.

This legislation, which has received strong support in both the House and the Senate, will reauthorize the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (MIOTCRA). Enacted in 2004, MIOTCRA created the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Grant Program designed to help states and counties design and implement coordinated efforts between criminal justice and mental health systems. Through appropriated funds, the Bureau of Justice Assistance within the Department of Justice has awarded 53 communities in 35 states with additional resources to plan and implement collaborative efforts between criminal justice and mental health systems.

The new bill will raise the authorization level of MIOTCRA from $50 million per year to $75 million per year and will extend the authorization through 2013. The bill will also reauthorize the mental health courts grant program, and require a study to be completed on the prevalence of mental illness in prisons and jails. Download the complete bill text (pdf).

'Reauthorizing MIOTCRA will provide much-needed support to states and local governments across the country. Every state is now seeking to design, implement, and expand initiatives that will improve the response to people with mental illnesses in contact with the criminal justice system. Front-line professionals, like corrections and police officers, are telling us that this will increase public safety, reduce state spending, and save lives,' said Justice Center board member and Connecticut State Representative Michael Lawlor. 'We urge the Senate to take swift action in support of this bill.'"

Earlier coverage of this legislation is available here and here.

House Committee Passes MIOTCRA

Here's an update from the Consensus Project on the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act (MIOTCRA):

"On November 7, 2007, just a week after the introduction of the bill, members of the full House Judiciary Committee passed H.R. 3992, the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act. The bill will now be sent to the House floor for consideration, which sponsors say could take place later this month. The Senate sponsors intend to move the companion bill, S. 2304, before Congress breaks for recess.

During the mark-up of the bill, lead sponsors Representatives Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Randy Forbes (R-VA) spoke about the need for continued collaboration between criminal justice and mental health agencies. The bill will make a significant commitment to addressing the needs of both the criminal justice system and the mentally ill offender population. It offers grants to communities to develop diversion programs, mental health treatments in jails and prisons, and transition and after-care services to facilitate reentry into the community.

"I am pleased to be the lead cosponsor of a bi-cameral, bi-partisan legislation," Representative Scott said. "The MIOTCRA will not only provide for appropriate responses to mentally ill offenders, but save localities money in avoided jail and prison costs.

"With bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate, the legislation will raise the authorization level of MIOTCRA from $50 million per year to $75 million per year and will extend the authorization through 2013. The bill will also reauthorize the Mental Health Courts grant program, (Public Law 106-515) and require a study to be completed on the prevalence of mental illness in prisons and jails."

Congress Introduces the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act

From the Consensus Project Newsletter, November 2007:

"This week U.S. Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Pete Domenici (R-NM), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Arlen Specter (R-PA), and U.S. Representatives Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Randy Forbes (R-VA) introduced the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act.

This legislation, which has received bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate, will reauthorize the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act or MIOTCRA (Public Law 108-414). Enacted in 2004, MIOTCRA created the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Grant Program (JMHCP) designed to help states and counties design and implement collaborative efforts between criminal justice and mental health systems. Through appropriated funds, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) within the Department of Justice has awarded 53 communities in 35 states with additional resources to plan and implement collaborative efforts between criminal justice and mental health systems."

Here are some provisions of the new bill:

• Raises the authorization level of MIOTCRA from $50 million per year to $75 million per year and will extend the authorization through 2013
• Reauthorizes the Mental Health Courts grant program (Public Law 106-515)
• Requires that a study be completed on the prevalence of mental illness in prisons and jails

The Consensus Project reports that the bill is scheduled for consideration in the full House Judiciary Committee on November 7, 2007; it passed the Crime Subcommittee on November 1. The Senate sponsors intend to move the bill before Congress breaks for recess.

More information available at http://consensusproject.org/.

News from the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project

From the July 2007 Consensus Project Newsletter:

"Nearly 30 state mental health directors gathered in Denver, Colorado earlier this month to participate in a special day-long session on criminal justice and mental health issues. The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), together with the Council of State Governments Justice Center, convened the meeting one day before the start of NASMHPD's summer meeting.

This meeting marked the first time NASMHPD has ever convened the state mental health directors for a session focused exclusively on criminal justice issues. The day-long session was the result of a series of meetings among a small group of state mental health directors interested in developing a blueprint for their counterparts across the country, which would chart a course for the successful reinvestment of state dollars in community-based behavioral health care services for people involved in the criminal justice system.

Participants discussed concentrating limited dollars on a "target population" of people with mental illness involved in the criminal justice system, ensuring services funded with reinvested dollars are most likely to have a positive impact on the target population, and developing outcome measures that policymakers could use to track the results of the reinvestment.

Incoming NASMHPD President, Carlos Brandenburg, administrator of the Division of Mental Health & Developmental Services within the Nevada Department of Human Resources, announced during the NASMHPD meeting that he would establish a "President's Task Force" that, together with the Justice Center, will work to develop this blueprint.

Another topic covered during the session was the role of mental health systems vis a vis crime victims. Presenters reviewed barriers that victims often encounter when seeking information about offenders ordered to receive treatment from the state mental health system, as well as steps that can be taken to address barriers. For more information on a project the Justice Center is coordinating with support from the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) to improve responses to these victims, click here.

Various state legislators who have led justice reinvestment initiatives in their states participated in the session, including Rep. Jerry Madden (R-TX), Rep. Michael Lawlor (D-CT) and Rep. Pat Colloton (R-KS). For more information about the justice reinvestment initiatives these lawmakers have led in their states, click here."