Justice and Mental Health Act introduced

A bill that would provide more resources to address the increasing population of those with mental illness in jails has been introduced in both the House and Senate by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.). The Comprehensive Justice and Mental Health Act (CJMHA) would reauthorize the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act. CJMHA would provide counties with funding to expand specialty courts (e.g. drug courts and veteran's courts) and crisis intervention training for law enforcement. It would also:

• continue support for mental health courts and crisis intervention teams
• authorize investment in veterans treatment courts
• support state and local efforts
• to identify people with mental health conditions at each point in the criminal justice system in order to
• appropriately direct them to mental health services (sequential intercept model)
• increase focus on corrections- based programs such as transitional services and screening practices that identify inmates with mental health conditions
• support the development of curricula for police academies and orientation, and
• develop programs to train federal law enforcement officers in how to appropriately respond to incidents involving a person with a mental health condition.