2010 Philadelphia RESPONDS Pre-Trial Team

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 city of Philadelphia will use their Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) grant funds ($249,469) to support the critical need to screen for suicide and mental health issues at the initial detention phase and to develop crisis and jail alternative strategies. The proposed grant will fund the Post-Arrest Crisis Specialist (PACS) to conduct mental health and suicide screenings and to develop "Community Linkage Plans" for the target population. The PACS will work together with a Pre-Trial Team, the Forensic Triage Specialist, police personnel, the CIT Coordinator, the Mobile Emergency Team, and the Arraignment Court Magistrates.

CA/NCF