The Council of State Governments Justice Center has updated its mental health court web pages to make information on the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) learning sites more accessible. These five mental health courts, which have been serving as learning sites since being selected by BJA in June 2006, are:

• Akron Municipal Mental Health Court (OH)
• Bonneville County Mental Health Court (ID)
• Bronx County Mental Health Court (NY)
• Dougherty Superior Court (GA)
• Washoe County Mental Health Court (NV)

The learning sites host site visits, hold conference calls, and respond to e-mail inquiries from people interested in starting a mental health court or improving their current program. The learning sites also work with the Justice Center, the technical assistance provider for this program, to improve their own processes and procedures. Snapshots of each of the learning sites, along with longer program descriptions, can now be downloaded on the website to help potential visitors to select a learning site.

All of the information needed to set up a visit is also accessible on the site. Interested parties can consult the site visit calendar, which lists some of the dates that are available for visits, and can download a visit request form and submit it to Lauren Almquist (lalmquist@csg.org or fax: 212-383-5743). The Justice Center has created a site visit observation tool to guide jurisdictions through their visits, as well as an evaluation form to report on the visits’ usefulness.

The Justice Center’s mental health court website also houses other resources, such as the BJA mental health court publications, links to relevant media articles and research, and a link to the Justice Center’s mental health court survey. The Justice Center encourages court personnel to complete a survey so that their programs may be profiled in the Justice Center’s Criminal Justice / Mental Health Information Network (InfoNet), a comprehensive database that inventories programs, research, and media. Click here for more information on the InfoNet.

Nearly 30 state mental health directors gathered in Denver, Colorado earlier this month to participate in a special day-long session on criminal justice and mental health issues. The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), together with the Council of State Governments Justice Center, convened the meeting one day before the start of NASMHPD's summer meeting.

This meeting marked the first time NASMHPD has ever convened the state mental health directors for a session focused exclusively on criminal justice issues. The day-long session was the result of a series of meetings among a small group of state mental health directors interested in developing a blueprint for their counterparts across the country, which would chart a course for the successful reinvestment of state dollars in community-based behavioral health care services for people involved in the criminal justice system.

Participants discussed concentrating limited dollars on a "target population" of people with mental illness involved in the criminal justice system, ensuring services funded with reinvested dollars are most likely to have a positive impact on the target population, and developing outcome measures that policymakers could use to track the results of the reinvestment.

Incoming NASMHPD President, Carlos Brandenburg, administrator of the Division of Mental Health & Developmental Services within the Nevada Department of Human Resources, announced during the NASMHPD meeting that he would establish a "President's Task Force" that, together with the Justice Center, will work to develop this blueprint.

Another topic covered during the session was the role of mental health systems vis a vis crime victims. Presenters reviewed barriers that victims often encounter when seeking information about offenders ordered to receive treatment from the state mental health system, as well as steps that can be taken to address barriers. For more information on a project the Justice Center is coordinating with support from the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) to improve responses to these victims, click here.

Various state legislators who have led justice reinvestment initiatives in their states participated in the session, including Rep. Jerry Madden (R-TX), Rep. Michael Lawlor (D-CT) and Rep. Pat Colloton (R-KS). For more information about the justice reinvestment initiatives these lawmakers have led in their states, click here.

In addition, representatives of the National Institute of Corrections mental health learning sites - Director A.T. Wall of the Rhode Island Department of Corrections and Secretary Roger Werholtz of the Kansas Department of Corrections - participated in the meeting.

The session was supported by funding from OVC, the National Institute of Corrections and the Pew Charitable Trusts. For more information on the Justice Center's work with NASMHPD, please contact Hope Glassberg at hglassberg@csg.org or 212-482-2320.

• New Resource for Judges: The Judges' Guide to Mental Health Jargon, a resource for judges involved with criminal justice/mental health initiatives in their communities, is now available.