Establish a mental health component to Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Drug Court

The purpose of the Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program (42 U.S.C. 3797u et seq.) is to provide financial and technical assistance to states, state courts, local courts, units of local government, and Indian tribal governments to develop and implement drug treatment courts that effectively integrate substance abuse treatment, mandatory drug testing, sanctions and incentives, and transitional services in a judicially supervised court setting with jurisdiction over nonviolent, substance-abusing offenders. The FY 2010 Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program will provide grant funds to jurisdictions to implement or enhance a local drug court or to improve, enhance, expand, or financial support drug court services statewide.

The Orleans Parish Criminal District Court will use the grant funds to enhance their adult drug court by hiring two case managers to screen individuals for mental illness upon entering the drug court program. After identifying those individuals with co-occurring disorders, the case managers will formulate individualized treatment plans for these clients and monitor their progress through drug court leading to graduation from the program. The drug court will also contract with a local agency to provide psychiatric assessments of these clients and medications as prescribed by the psychiatrist. The case managers will work closely with this agency to monitor the individualized treatment plans and make any necessary modifications in order to promote client success.

CA/NCF