Just as staff in the criminal justice system recognize the need to learn new skills that will allow them to provide appropriate care for people with mental illness with whom they have contact, those who work in the mental health field must develop awareness of the special needs of people with mental illness who have been arrested and/or incarcerated.  If they are to help people with mental illness who have criminal histories to live in the community at large, mental health staff must understand the implications of those histories as well as the imprint arrest and incarceration may leave on a person. They also must understand the criminal justice system itself so that they can interact productively with their counterparts in that system.

Criminal justice agencies and community mental health programs have different traditions, missions, and often even different values.  Their staff have typically been trained very differently.  One way of looking at these differences is to think of them as different cultures.  In order to achieve successful collaboration and integration of resources, staff from both arenas will need to understand their cultural differences as well as appreciate their overlapping missions.

An analogous situation arose when substance abuse treatment began to increase in jails and prisons.  What was discovered at that time was that cross-training was necessary for solid collaboration and integration of services.  Cross-training here simply means that each staff train the other, so that criminal justice personnel learn more about mental health and mental health staff learn more about criminal justice in a combined learning environment.

Training topics for mental health providers and administrators include the following:

Training about law enforcement

• the public safety responsibilities of law enforcement officers
• police protocols for the use of force
• responsibilities of first and backup responders
• officers' expectations of community providers
• familiarity with law enforcement officers and officials
• the booking process

Training about the court

• general court procedures
• information sharing in the court setting
• responsibilities of prosecutors, court administrators, defense attorneys, and judges
• conditional release programs and their administration in the jurisdiction

Training about corrections agencies

• jail classification procedures
• jail personnel and the jail environment
• correctional procedures, including intake and classification
• scope of behavioral health services available in prison
• correctional medical staff and facilities
• corrections release planning staff and procedures
• community corrections (e.g. probation, parole) procedures and protocols
• familiarity with the rules of Medicaid, SSI, SSDI, TANF, and other benefit programs for those who are incarcerated in jail or prison

Training about working with consumers who have been involved with, or are at risk of being involved with, the criminal justice system

• advanced directives
• the effects of correctional incarceration on mental illness
• obstacles faced by individuals who have been incarcerated
• ensuring the safety of the provider and consumer
• cultural competency
• housing options in the community for people with mental illness

Recommendations:

a.

Work with university and other mental health professional training programs to enhance their curricula on the criminal justice system.

b.

Develop in-service curricula for mental health staff that address obstacles to working with criminal justice clients.