On February 25, 2009, the House of Representatives passed an omnibus appropriations bill for the remainder of fiscal year 2009, which includes funding for the Department of Justice, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Health and Human Services. The omnibus bill (H.R. 1105) is now under consideration in the Senate. Democratic leaders hope to take action on this bill by the end of next week, as the continuing resolution currently providing funding expires on March 6, 2009.

The omnibus bill passed by the House includes funding for the following priorities:

Department of Justice

• $10 million for the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (which represents a $3.5 million increase over the FY08 appropriation)
  
• $25 million for the Second Chance Act, including $15 million for state and local demonstration grants and $10 million for nonprofit grants
  
• $532 million for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program
  
• $30 million for the Byrne Competitive Grant Program
  
• $40 million for drug courts
  
• $10 million for Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT)
  

Department of Health and Human Services

• $3.5 billion for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a $110 million increase
  
  • $37.635 million for the Criminal Justice Activities portfolio in SAMHSA, an increase of $13,942,000

For more information about the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act, please click here.

On February 24, 2009, the Consensus Project launched a new version of its Criminal Justice/Mental Health Information Network (InfoNet), an online database that catalogues collaborative criminal justice and mental health activity at a number of intercept points along the criminal justice continuum. This new version will result in an even better resource for the field because it allows for more real-time updates to profiles of existing collaborative initiatives. This in turn allows those in the fields of criminal justice and mental health to access more accurate information, sooner, about more programs across the country.

The InfoNet currently contains profiles of mental health courts, specialized law enforcement programs and other local and state-based programs. The updated version will allow for more comprehensive cataloging of such programs because of its new user-managed content feature, which allows designated representatives from specialized programs to create and update profiles for their initiatives. The feature enables program representatives to directly control the content of their profiles, ensuring that information on the InfoNet is more current. It also allows for program coordinators to upload any related media or research articles published about the program.

The Justice Center has also updated its two existing program surveys for law enforcement-based programs and mental health courts. The answers to the surveys questions, when completed by a program coordinator, provide a snapshot within the program profiles of the programs history, policies, and procedures. These updated surveys will allow those in the field to access more detailed and up-to-date information about new and exciting initiatives being implemented in jurisdictions around the country. These surveys were originally developed with assistance from the National GAINS Center, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) , and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF ). For initiatives that are neither court nor law enforcement-based, program coordinators may still input general overview information about their program.

The InfoNet also catalogs news articles and research written about criminal justice/mental health issues. Profiles of state legislation, advocacy efforts, and statewide efforts to coordinate comprehensive responses to people with mental illness involved in the justice system are under development. Surveys of jail and prison re-entry programs and efforts that focus on probation and parole initiatives will also be developed.

"The continued expansion of mental health courts, crisis intervention teams, and other law enforcement responses to individuals with mental illness is an exciting development. The updated InfoNet, which chronicles both new and existing programs, has the potential to be a truly useful tool for jurisdictions in the field by allowing communities to learn from one another," remarked Ruby Qazilbash, Senior Policy Advisor for Substance Abuse & Mental Health, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), U.S. Department of Justice, which administers the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program . "BJA encourages representatives from all relevant programs to create a profile in the InfoNet in order to ensure that the database has current information about existing initiatives throughout the country."

For those readers who run local or state-based programs designed to help individuals with mental illnesses who are involved in the criminal justice system (such as a CIT or a mental health court), please take a moment to review the updated InfoNet and either input or update your programs information .

For readers interested in collaborating with these programs, or finding out more information about them, click here to learn more about the existing database.

The InfoNet was originally created through a public/private partnership of organizations including BJA and NIC, U.S. Department of Justice; the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA ), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

From a new court rule in Idaho that expands the reach of mental health courts to enhanced mental health training requirements for police officers in Indiana and Oklahoma, state legislatures across the country continued to prioritize criminal justice and mental health issues throughout 2008. The Justice Center has compiled a list of several state laws that passed in 2008 focused on individuals with mental illnesses involved in the criminal justice system. ¹

Connecticut

• Senate Bill 1700: Makes changes to various sections of the state criminal code. These changes include a new rule that all state Parole Board members must undergo training on issues such as mental health treatment services, victims rights, and existing re-entry services. These changes also require the Parole Board to employ at least one psychologist with expertise in risk assessment. In addition, the bill mandates that the Court Support Services Division (CSSD), a state agency that coordinates pre-trial services, family services, sentencing and supervision options for adults and juveniles, create a court-based diversion program for people with psychiatric disabilities who have committed crimes or violations that are deemed "not serious in nature." The bill also outlines eligibility criteria for the program and processes for notifying victims and creating treatment plans for participants. Finally, the bill directs the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to collaborate with the CSSD to provide community-based treatment services to program participants.

Florida

• House Bill 1429: Mandates that the adult and juvenile criminal justice systems and community-based service providers create written cooperative agreements with one another regarding diversion and connection to community-based mental health treatment. This bill also includes a legislative finding which concludes that individuals with untreated behavioral health issues create an unnecessary financial burden to the state, especially through their interactions with the adult and juvenile criminal justice systems. The bill then notes that, despite this issue, most individuals do respond well to treatment services when they are available, and that state and local treatment providers have recently begun to make great strides in improving the availability of such services.

• Administrative Order #2008-05:
Establishes a mental health court docket in Leon County, which encompasses the city of Tallahassee. This order establishes guidelines for the mental health court, outlining what days and what times the court will meet. In addition, the order assigns judges to the felony mental health docket, and outlines general eligibility requirements and exclusion criteria. The order also mandates that the mental health court team be made up of a court coordinator, a competency specialist, a pre-trial specialist, a case manager, probation officers, a supervisor from the Department of Children and Families, which oversees mental health and substance abuse services in the state, and the jail clinical staff.

Related Resource: The Florida Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Criminal Justice Technical Assistance Center, a part of the University of South Floridas Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI) provides technical assistance to counties in Florida that are trying to measure the effectiveness of programs designed to help individuals mental illness involved in the criminal justice system. FMHI also maintains a database of Florida-specific and nationwide information and resources related to this population. Please click here to visit their website.

Idaho

• Idaho Code § 19-5608: Annotates a section of the Idaho code related to the implementation of drug and mental health courts in the state. The new rule requires the creation of a statewide mental health court committee consisting of a judge, court administrator, court coordinator, prosecutor, public defender, probation officer and representatives from the following agencies and organizations: the state Department of Corrections, treatment service providers, Department of Education, Commission of Pardons and Parole, Department of Health, Department of Juvenile Corrections, State Police, Department of Transportation, state legislature and the Governors office. The mental health court committee must set statewide guidelines for mental health court eligibility, identification of participants, screening, assessment, treatment, case management, supervision and evaluation. The committee must also develop a mental health court procedural manual, training opportunities for other drug and mental health court teams, and design an evaluation strategy for all mental health courts within the state.

Related Resource: The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) designated five mental health courts as learning sites to provide a peer support network for local and state officials interested in planning a new--or improving upon an existing--mental health court. One of the learning sites is in Bonneville County, Idaho; click here for a snapshot (PDF) of this learning site .

Indiana

• House Act 1105: Adds new standards related to academy training for law enforcement officers in Indiana. One of the new standards mandates a minimum of six hours of training for officers on interacting with people with behavioral health problems, including serious mental illnesses.

Related Resource: Click here for the new Justice Center publication Improving Responses to People with Mental Illnesses: Strategies for Effective Law Enforcement Training.

Louisiana

• House Bill 130: Amends an existing state law governing the creation of specialty courts to allow judges within the Fourth Judicial District, which includes the two rural parishes of Ouachita and Morehouse, the option to create one or more mental health courts for individuals with mental illnesses who are involved in the criminal justice system.

Related Resource: For jurisdictions interested in starting their own mental health court, click here for the newest version of The Essential Elements of a Mental Health Court, a Justice Center publication which details the ten common elements found in mental health courts across the country.

New Hampshire

• 2008 Court Rule: Amends a previous law which established the New Hampshire Mental Health Court Pilot Program in the Keene District Court in 2002. The new rule updates the purpose of the pilot program, placing a larger emphasis on the goal of improved public safety for the general community. The rule also reiterates previous goals of the mental health court: maximizing cooperation between the mental health and criminal justice systems, encouraging faster case processing, improving access to treatment services, improving the well-being of participants, and reducing recidivism.

Oklahoma

• Senate Bill 1625: Changes an existing public safety law to order all basic police training courses to include a minimum of four hours of education and training on recognizing and addressing the needs of individuals who require mental health treatment services. Under the new bill, all active full-time peace officers will also be expected to complete at least two hours of continuing education related to mental health issues.

Related Resource: Click here for the new Justice Center publication Improving Responses to People with Mental Illnesses: The Essential Elements of a Specialized Law Enforcement-Based Program.

Related Resource: Click here for a link to publications from the Justice Centers Justice Reinvestment (JR) Project work in Vermont. The JR Project seeks to advance fiscally-sound, data-driven criminal justice policies to break the cycle of recidivism, avert prison expenditures and make communities safer.

Washington

• Senate Bill 6665: Updates the expiration date for the implementation and evaluation of pilot programs that provide intensive case management for individuals with mental illnesses who are involved in the criminal justice system. The bill changes the date by which the Washington state institute for public policy must complete preliminary evaluations of these pilot programs and present their findings to legislature, from June 2008 to June 2010. The bill specifies that program evaluations should highlight efficiency, cost effectiveness, and improved mental health outcomes.