Muskegon County Pilot Program

The Edward Byrne Memorial Discretionary Grants Program (Byrne Discretionary Program) helps local communities improve the capacity of local justice systems and provides for national support efforts. This project is authorized and funded through a line item in the FY 08 Congressional Budget. Funds should be used for purposes recommended by Congress.

Muskegon County will continue to support their Jail Diversion and Reentry Pilot Project. They will use evidence based practices to screen, assess, and develop reentry plans for the inmate population at the county jail. The goal of the project is to improve the coordination of services for jail inmates and decrease recidivism rates of offenders with mental health or substance abuse problems. All inmates that enter the booking process at the jail will undergo mental health, substance abuse, and physical health screenings and a risk assessment. Inmates with identified mental health or substance addiction issues will be referred to an assessment team for jail diversion, coordination of treatment, and development of a reentry plan. Western Michigan University will conduct both process and outcome evaluations of the project. The primary goal of the process evaluation is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the project and to use findings to improve project implementation.

NCA/NCF