Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program

The Bureau of Justice Assistance's (BJA) Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) is funded through the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-414), which was reauthorized in 2008 (Public Law 110-416). The primary purpose of JMHCP is 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 mental health and other treatment services for those individuals with mental illness or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. Jurisdictions are eligible to apply for planning, planning and implementation, or expansion funding through JMHCP.

The county of Kankakee will use the Justice and Mental Health funding of $242,122 and matched with $96,188 of in-kind services, to plan, implement, and evaluate the needed program components in coordination with its agency partners. The goals include reducing recidivism of system-involved individuals with MI/COD, ensuring program participants have access to treatment resources, and increasing communication and collaboration.

The key components of the project include: (1) evidence-based MI/COD intake screening and assessment tools for nonviolent offenders; (2) mental health and COD treatment services for incarcerated individuals with MI/COD throughout time served and upon release; (3) court-based mental health screening and diversion alternatives for nonviolent offenders with MI/COD; (4) training for law enforcement, criminal justice, mental health, and substance abuse personnel in crisis intervention and response procedures for individuals with MI/COD; and (5) jail-based reentry programming that provides transitional services for nonviolent offenders with MI/COD in their final year of incarceration and after release.

CA/NCF