Examines the causal impact of mental health needs scores on youth and adult outcomes such as suicide attempts and incarceration duration.
Document Category: Behavioral Health
The overdose crisis is claiming lives across the United States, but it reaches new depths of despair in the criminal justice system. Overdose is the leading cause of death among people returning to their communities after being in jail or prison. Providing addiction treatment in these settings could change that.
This report highlights efforts in 11 states to expand access to healthcare services and other supports for Medicaid beneficiaries with substance use disorder and/or involvement with the justice system.
To identify implementation barriers and facilitators to the adoption and implementation of programs that provide opioid agonist treatments (OAT) with methadone and buprenorphine to treat opioid use disorder in jails and prisons in the United States.
America’s substance misuse crisis is a public safety and public health emergency that threatens the well-being of individuals who misuse drugs as well as their families, communities, and, ultimately, the nation. It impacts first responders, the criminal justice system, child welfare and foster care, behavioral health systems, and victim service providers. Supporting the field in addressing this epidemic is one of the U.S. Department of Justice’s top priorities and, at the center of this response, is the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA) Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP).
Through the Suicide Prevention Resource Guide, the National Commission on Correctional Health Care and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention have joined forces to work toward reducing the incidence of suicide in jails and prisons. The guide focuses on three areas key to suicide prevention in corrections: assessment, intervention and treatment, and training. The aim is to educate the field on how to better identify and help inmates at risk for suicide, safely manage those identified as at high risk, and provide consistent, comprehensive training to all involved personnel.
This brief presents prevalence estimates of two mental health indicators based on data reported by state and federal prisoners: the prisoner reported experiences that met the threshold for serious psychological distress (SPD) during the 30 days prior to their interview and the prisoner having a history of a mental health problem. Findings are based on self-reported data from the 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates.
The Stepping Up initiative supports local jurisdictions in establishing and reaching measurable goals that demonstrate reduced prevalence of serious mental illness across the justice system.
During the reentry process, people work across various sectors to offer support to people who are being released from incarceration by providing connections to care for behavioral health, housing, transportation, and other supportive services. While there are challenges providing connections to care, there are also some success stories that Second Chance Act grantees can offer insight on. This webinar features two grantees who have utilized innovative ways to provide post-release connections to care for people who are returning to various communities. Video Run Time: 1 hr., 12 mins
The number of incarcerated women increased by more than 750% from 1980 through 2017, with women of color being disproportionately incarcerated at 1.3 (for Hispanic women) to 2 (for Black women) times the rate of white women in 2017. Incarcerated women are more likely to experience a range of violence and other victimizations, as well as other traumatic experiences, prior to being incarcerated. All play a major role in their pathways to involvement with the criminal justice system. Furthermore, incarcerated women are more likely to experience victimization while incarcerated.