Project Intercept:Addressing the Needs of Mentally Ill Offenders

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 Craighead will use the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) grant funds ($198,379) to increase public safety and decrease recidivism rates of the mentally ill by developing, implementing, and evaluating a Mental Health Court. The goals of this project are: (1) to maintain and enhance a collaborative plan to initiate systemic change for the identification and treatment of offenders with mental illness; (2) to intercept participants and provide access to an enhanced system of mental health and community support services; and (3) to improve stability and community connections for mental health court graduates.

CA/NCF