Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2007, $50,000)
The Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP), seeks to increase public safety through innovative cross-system collaboration for individuals with mental illness who come into contact with the criminal or juvenile justice systems. This program is funded through the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004 (MIOTCRA) (Public Law 108-414). The program is designed to increase public safety by facilitating collaboration among the criminal justice, juvenile justice, and mental health and substance abuse treatment systems to increase access to services for offenders with mental illness. Activities under this initiative encourage early intervention for 'system-involved' individuals with mental illness; provide new and existing mental health courts with various treatment options; maximize diversion opportunities for nonviolent offenders with mental illness and co-occurring disorders; promote training for justice and treatment professionals on criminal justice processes and mental health and substance abuse issues; and facilitate communication, collaboration, and the delivery of support services among justice professionals, treatment and related service providers, and governmental partners.
Racine County will use this Planning Grant to design a strategic, collaborative plan to initiate systematic change for the identification and treatment of offenders with mental illness. The planning process will involve a needs and resources assessment of the current systems used in two counties (Racine County and Kenosha County). This will identify service gaps, weaknesses, and duplications. The process will also involve input from stakeholders, who include law enforcement, the judiciary, District Attorneys, Public Defenders, County government officials, each County's Human Services Departments, the State Department of Corrections, and mental health consumers, as represented by the Racine and Kenosha County NAMI chapters. The process will also have a public education component.
CA/NCF