Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) - Criminal and Juvenile Justice
SAMHSA promotes early intervention and treatment as healthier alternatives to detaining people with behavioral health conditions in the U.S. justice system. In doing this work, SAMHSA recognizes the balance of public health and public safety priorities.
SAMHSA Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center
SAMHSA's Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center offers communities, clinicians, policy-makers, and others with tools and information to incorporate evidence-based practices into their communities or clinical settings.
According to SAMHSA, you can find the resource you need by searching via topic area, substance, or condition as well as resource type (e.g., Toolkit, Treatment Improvement Protocol, Guideline), target population (e.g., Youth, Adult), and target audience (e.g., resource for Clinicians, Prevention Professionals, Patients, Policymakers).
BJA strengthens the Nation’s criminal justice system and helps America’s state, local, and tribal jurisdictions reduce and prevent crime, reduce recidivism, and promote a fair and safe criminal justice system.
U.S. Department of Justice - Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office
The COPS Office is responsible for advancing the practice of community policing by the nation's state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement agencies through information and grant resources.
National Institute of Corrections
The mission of NIC is to advance public safety by shaping and enhancing correctional policies and practices through leadership, learning, and innovation.
Mental Health Texas provides learning and treatment opportunities for those coping with mental health conditions and those who support them.
Texas Health and Human Services
HHS works with federally qualified health clinics, medical associations, community partners and local governments to help Texans find the care they need to maximize their health, safety and overall well-being.
Veterans Mental Health Department
VMHD is focused on ensuring access to competent mental health services for service members, veterans, and their families. VMHD accomplishes this task by providing training, certification, and technical assistance across Texas.
Texas Commission on Jail Standards
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards is the regulatory agency for all county jails and privately operated municipal jails in the state. TCJS's mission is to assist local governments in providing safe, secure and suitable local jail facilities through our provision of the following services.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice
The TDCJ works to provide public safety, promote positive change in offender behavior, reintegrate offenders into society, and assist victims of crime.
Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs
The TDHCA is the state agency responsible for affordable housing, community and energy assistance programs, colonia activities, and regulation of the state's manufactured housing industry.
Texas Commission on Law Enforcement
As a regulatory State agency, TCOLE aims to establish and enforce standards to ensure that the people of Texas are served by highly trained and ethical law enforcement, corrections, and telecommunications personnel.
Texas Indigent Defense Commission
The TIDC safeguards liberty by ensuring that Texas and its 254 counties provide the right to counsel guaranteed by the United States and Texas Constitutions. TIDC is tasked with funding, overseeing, and improving public defense in each of Texas county.
Texas Juvenile Justice Department
The TJJD works in partnership with local juvenile boards and juvenile probation departments to support and enhance juvenile probation services throughout the state by providing funding, technical assistance, and training; establishing and enforcing standards; collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information; and facilitating communication between state and local entities.
Texas Council of Community Centers
Texas Council of Community Centers represents the 39 public Community Centers throughout Texas providing services and support for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, serious mental illness, and substance addictions.
Sheriff's Association of Texas
The Sheriffs' Association of Texas is one of the oldest law enforcement associations in the nation that serves the community of sheriffs and other county and local law enforcement officers, federal and state officers, and major industry security personnel in the state.
Texas Police Chiefs Association
TPCA actively seeks to promote the professional practice of law enforcement administration, to represent the membership and the profession on issues of concern, and to encourage high ethical standards of conduct among law enforcement administrators through its code of ethics.
Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute
The Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute provides independent, nonpartisan, data-driven, and trusted policy and program guidance that creates equitable systemic changes so all Texans can obtain effective, efficient behavioral health care when and where they need it.
The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health
The Hogg Foundation is guided in large part by Ima Hogg’s vision for a Texas that supports and promotes mental health and well-being. The foundation takes an inclusive approach through which communities, particularly those that have been historically marginalized or excluded, take an active role in identifying and improving conditions that impact mental health.
The Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health
TIEMH draws on the expertise available within the state to strengthen the workforce, enhance our collective knowledge about effective mental health practices, and facilitate the dissemination of research-supported promotion, prevention, and intervention practices.
Interested in Additional Resources?
Learn more about others leading this work and find additional resources at the links below.
Find Local Resources
2-1-1 Texas, a program of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, is committed to helping Texas citizens connect with the services they need. 2-1-1 Texas is a free, anonymous social service hotline available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
National Resources
National Association of Counties: NACo Commission on Mental Health and Wellbeing
Through this commission, NACo will elevate the critical role that counties play in providing high-quality, accessible mental health services, showcase county innovations and solutions and outline the intergovernmental and public-private partnerships required to reimagine and strengthen our nation’s mental health policies, programs and practices.
Housing
This brief presents four steps state leaders can take to increase housing opportunities and improve justice and health outcomes for those involved in the justice system who face a number of barriers to accessing available housing.
This report highlights 5 areas where people with behavioral health needs leaving California prisons and jails experienced the greatest challenges in accessing housing. It also provides 10 complementary recommendations for actions that state, county, and local leaders can take to reduce homelessness among this population.
SAMHSA: Permanent Supportive Housing: How to Use the Evidence-Based Practices KITs
This toolkit outlines the essential components for supportive housing services and programs for people living with mental illness disorders. It discusses how to develop and integrate evidence-based programs in mental health systems. The toolkit includes eight booklets on program development.
Built for Zero: Community Solutions
Built for Zero is a movement, a methodology, and proof of what is possible. Over 100 cities and counties have committed to measurably ending homelessness for entire populations. Using data, these communities have changed how local homeless response systems work and the impact they can achieve. Together, they are proving that we can build a future where homelessness is rare overall and brief when it occurs.
Transportation
SAMHSA: National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care: Best Practice Toolkit
This toolkit is designed to bridge the gap that currently exists in our continuum of care by solidifying national best practice guidelines that reflects SAMHSA’s view of the standard of care we must expect in our communities.
Medicaid Coverage
Access to a full array of crisis response services, stable housing, and employment reduces unnecessary and sometimes dangerous interactions with law enforcement; avoidable admissions to EDs and inpatient beds; and incarceration. Timely access to services and supports contributes to emotional well-being in youth, and overall mental health in adults.
This resource from the National Judicial Task Force identifies online resources and publications showcasing State Courts' Responses to Mental Illness.
People with mental illness and intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) cycle through the courts but often lack the tools to address their needs or access adequate treatment. Mental Health Court (MHC) programs can be used to connect people with appropriate treatment, community resources, and ongoing judicial monitoring to address these issues.
Texas Judicial Commission on Mental Health: Bench Books
Bench Books published on the JCMH website are helpful resources for judges and attorneys handling cases regarding persons with mental illness and/or IDD. These resources are intended for referential use.
NAMI: Texas Criminal Procedure and the Offender with Mental Illness
This guidebook identifies certain key statutes that relate to offenders and alleged offenders who have mental illness and include analysis of those laws.
A National Compendium of Court Navigation Programs (prainc.com
The purpose of this compendium is to provide a national picture of court navigation programs across the United States. This tool has compiled information about existing court navigation programs to share how these services have been funded, their core components, and their implementation.
This report from the Council of State Governments Justice Center explains the process of establishing the Expanding First Response National Commission, then details the emerging practices that program leaders can use to elevate and replicate community responder programs nationwide.
Council of State Governments Justice Center: How to Successfully Implement a Mobile Crisis Team
For many communities, mobile crisis teams are a great option to support law enforcement agencies while also addressing crisis system needs. Mobile crisis teams are proven to be cost-efficient and often reduce reliance on traditional criminal justice measures such as arrest and citations, and transfers to emergency rooms.
Crisis stabilization units (CSUs) support appropriate services for ongoing care in the community and provide law enforcement officers and mobile crisis teams a safe place to bring individuals in behavioral health crisis, oftentimes in lieu of arrest or emergency hospitalization.
This report recognizes the need to transform crisis response systems and serves as a practical guidance to crisis providers large and small, rural and urban. It defines the essential elements, measurable criteria and best practices as an ideal crisis system and recommends a redesigned and transformed system of care oriented around ensuring adequate access to appropriate prevention and treatment services in the community.
SAMHSA: Crisis Services: Effectiveness, Cost-Effectiveness, and Funding Strategies
This report summarizes the clinical and cost effectiveness of crisis services. It also presents case studies of approaches states are using to coordinate, consolidate, and blend funding sources to provide robust crisis services.
SAMHSA: National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care: Best Practice Toolkit
This toolkit is designed to bridge the gap that currently exists in our continuum of care by solidifying national best practice guidelines that reflects SAMHSA’s view of the standard of care we must expect in our communities.
In response to Presidential Executive Order 14074 - Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practices to Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety. Section 14 - Promoting Comprehensive and Collaborative Responses to Persons in Behavioral or Mental Health Crisis. This document provides guidance and outlines the application of federal disability rights laws in this area, as well as best practices for responding to crises experienced by people with disabilities, including people with behavioral health disabilities, intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), or other cognitive disabilities, who are deaf or hard of hearing, or who are blind or low-vision
Preparing Law Enforcement Agencies for Embedded Clinicians
As the national 988 Lifeline is being implemented across jurisdictions to directly connect individuals with trained crisis counselors during emergencies, law enforcement agencies are critical in ensuring the proper response to mental health calls. Throughout the county, departments are improving their responses by establishing police-mental health collaborations and including clinicians in their programs. This brief details three tips for leaders in law enforcement who want to prepare their agencies for embedded clinicians and establish a successful collaboration.
This publication from The Council of State Governments Justice Center outlines four core practices probation leaders and policymakers should follow when working to reduce recidivism and improve public safety in their communities.
Pew Analysis Finds Adults With Mental Illness Are Overrepresented in Probation Population
A recent analysis of federal data from 2015 to 2019 by The Pew Charitable Trusts found that adults on probation, supervision imposed by the county generally in place of incarceration, are more than twice as likely to have a moderate or serious mental illness as those in the general public. This publication identifies key findings from the analysis and highlights why a mental health approach can improve outcomes.
Microskills for Community Supervision Professionals
This resource can be used to enhance core correctional practice skills and will improve your ability to facilitate behavior change in the people you work with. It takes both technical and interpersonal skills to help people succeed, and you are in the best position to empower individuals to take ownership of their own progress and rehabilitation.
Advancing Community Supervision Strategies
These resources are a compilation of existing practices in community corrections that jurisdictions are implementing around the country. This list is meant to help you sift through the wide array of information available on any number of community corrections topics and present you with what we hope are the best tools currently available.
National Center for State Courts: Other Pathways and Strategies to Treatment and Recovery
This brief explores alternative pathways to treatment supported by evidence-based practices for recovery and support.
This document explores solutions persons found incompetent to stand trial, including competence-examination stage, the competence-restoration stage, and the return-to-court stage.
This review aims to describe and highlight the potential use of the Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) to decrease jail stays and maximize community service connections for individuals with impairing mental health conditions who are involved in the justice system and for whom diversion is a safe option
CSG: Just and Well: Rethinking how States Approach Competency to Stand Trial
This national report discusses current limitations and cost impacts of the competency to stand trial process and offers states ten strategies to improve.
JCMH County Mental Health Law Plan: Early Intervention
Watch this video from the Texas Judicial Commission on Mental Health (JCMH) to learn about early intervention. The video also discusses the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 16.22 and Mental Health Bonds.
Peer Support Specialists offer inspiration and model positive behaviors, as well as connect people to needed supports and lead recovery groups, among other benefits.
Policy Research Associates: Peer Support Roles Across the Sequential Intercept Model
This brief highlights policy and funding opportunities that city and county leaders can explore to use peer support as part of their continuum of care and in justice-related interventions.
Integrating the voices of individuals with lived experience in processes that evaluate policy, programming, and practice is essential to championing equity. This brief from The Council of State Governments summarizes guidance developed by a panel of people with direct experience in criminal justice and behavioral health systems about meaningfully engaging and partnering with individuals with lived experience to advance policies and practices at this intersection.
The Council of State Governments Justice Center provides a policy brief that describes key components to developing a systems-wide diversion strategy and focuses on the fundamental agencies within the criminal justice system that can lead the implementation of diversion initiatives.
Hogg Foundation for Mental Health Guide
The Hogg Foundation prepares a new edition of the Mental Health Guide to coincide with each Texas legislative session to help inform mental health and substance use policy analysis, development and decision-making.
Council of State Governments Justice Center: Developing and Implementing Your Co-Responder Program
This 2-page brief describes the basic components of co-responder programs and offers 4 practical tips to start and successfully implement your own.
Bureau of Justice Assistance: Police-Mental Health Collaboration Toolkit
The PMHC Toolkit provides resources for law enforcement agencies to partner with service providers, advocates, and individuals with mental illness and/or intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). The goal of these partnerships is to ensure the safety of all, to respond effectively, and to improve access to services and supports for people with mental illness and I/DD.
This toolkit serves as a central hub for local communities and states looking to establish or strengthen community responder programs. Drawing on the experience of emerging models across the country, the toolkit presents key issues that are crucial to the success of any program. It will be updated regularly with program highlights and additional resources for the field.
The One Mind Campaign seeks to ensure successful interactions between law enforcement and individuals with mental health conditions. The initiative focuses on uniting local communities, public safety organizations, and mental health organizations so that the three become "of one mind."
Council of State Governments Justice Center: Resources for Law Enforcement
This guide contains tools for Law Enforcement that were created by The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, supporting free training, resources, and support to communities wanting to improve their law enforcement and community responses to people with behavioral health conditions or intellectual and developmental disabilities.
This checklist offers a comprehensive framework for planning and implementing an interoperability solution across justice, health, and social service domains.
SAMHSA: Data Collection Across the Sequential Intercept Model: Essential Measures
This manual provides a starting place for jurisdictions looking to use data to better understand and improve the outcomes of people with mental and/or substance use disorders who come into contact with the criminal justice system.
National Association of Counties: Data-Driven Justice Playbook: How to Develop a System of Diversion
The Playbook is designed to help guide the development of a multi-system strategy to successfully divert frequent utilizers away from the criminal justice and emergency health systems and toward community-based treatment and services.
Find Local Resources
Suicide Prevention | Texas Health and Human Services
Texas Health and Human Services offers a resource guide to suicide prevention both locally in-state and nationwide. Mental health services listed in this guide offer telephone, chat, text and other resources for people who are at risk of suicide.
Texas Suicide Prevention Collaborative
The Texas Suicide Prevention Collaborative supports Texans in their efforts to build the suicide prevention capacity in our state. By connecting Texas communities through local coalitions and other stakeholder groups, TSPC aims to build and use vital prevention resources more effectively across the state and save lives.
National Resources
The Trevor Project is the leading suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ young people. Operating as the world’s largest safe space social networking site for LGBTQ youth, they run innovative research, education, and advocacy programs, as well as provide 24/7 life-saving support via phone, text, and chat.
American Society for Suicide Prevention
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) is a voluntary health organization that gives those affected by suicide a nationwide community empowered by research, education and advocacy to take action against this leading cause of death. AFSP is dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide, including those who have experienced a loss.
When people call, text, or chat 988, they will be connected to trained counselors that are part of a national network of over 200 local crisis centers. Trained counselors will connect people with help and support during a mental health, substance use or suicide crisis, 24/7.
What Providers Need to Know: Behavioral Health and Brain Injury
The Mid-America ATTC, National Association of State Head Injury Administrators, and Mountain Plains ATTC offer a tip card on behavioral health and brain injury. Topics covered include what is brain injury, what are common symptoms, intersection with substance use and behavior, screening for brain injury, and more.
Global Resources
The Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) model provides support to communities to help ensure that evidence-based care is available for people with mental health disorders or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders who may be involved in the criminal justice system and to minimize incarceration and recidivism risks. There are currently more than 500 CCBHCs operating in 46 states, plus Washington, DC; Puerto Rico; and Guam. A growing number of states are moving to implement the model through a state plan amendment or Medicaid waiver, and individual community mental health and substance use services organizations continue to seek funding through Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration funded CCBHC Expansion Grants.
Adults with Behavioral Health Needs under Correctional Supervision | CSG Justice Center
This report introduces an evidence-based framework for prioritizing scarce resources based on assessments of individuals’ risk of committing a future crime and their treatment and support needs.
As the conversation around mental health continues to grow, sheriffs are faced with new roles on how to rethink the use of resources more effectively to ensure the public safety of communities while treating those with mental illness. This report supports efforts to help sheriffs manage and understand their shifting roles in jail systems.
MCSA White Paper Publication On Mental Health | Mayor County Sheriffs of America
Developed by the Major County Sheriffs of America in partnership with the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC), this report identifies innovative practices that have proven successful in reducing the arrest and incarceration of individuals living with mental illness in jurisdictions across the country.
Programs That Support Jails | Bureau of Justice Assistance
The BJA programs summarized in this Fact Sheet are considered by BJA to be especially relevant to the management and performance of Jails.
Current Minimum Standards | Texas Commission on Jail Standards
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards declare state policy that all county jail facilities conform to minimum standards of construction, maintenance and operation.
Mental Health Resources | Texas Commission on Jail Standards
Texas Commission on Jail Standards provides a list of Mental Health resources, including risk assessments and screening forms.
Screening and Assessment of Co-Occurring Disorders in the Justice System | SAMHSA
This guide examines a wide range of evidence-based practices for screening and assessment of people in the justice system who have co-occurring mental and substance-use disorders.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance convened a Jail Practitioner Roundtable on Opioid-Related Training Needs and gathered input from jail practitioners and stakeholders on training products and resources for managing the well-being of inmates with opioid use disorder (OUD) or substance use disorders (SUDs).
This report introduces what has been learned from the sheriffs’ and jail administrators’ innovative use of medication-assisted treatment (MAT), describing the essential components of these programs and analyzing the latest research on how these programs are best implemented.
The GAINS Center focuses on expanding access to services for people with mental and/or substance use disorders who come into contact with the adult criminal justice system.
Stepping Up: A National Initiative Reducing Over Incarceration of People with Mental Illness
This data-driven framework from The Stepping Up initiative is a data-driven framework that assists counties by providing trainings, resources, and support tailored to local needs.
Stepping up is a national initiative reducing over incarceration of people with mental illnesses that supports local jurisdictions in establishing measurable goals to demonstrate reduced prevalence of serious mental illness across the justice system. The link provided is a resource for county leaders to aid in their mission.
This document supports the department’s commitment to increasing access to evidence-based treatment for individuals with substance use disorders (SUD) and those at risk for overdose, including individuals who are incarcerated or reentering their communities.
This white paper is written to guide leaders across all branches of government and other stakeholders on how to better leverage existing research and resources to facilitate system improvements that reduce recidivism and improve other outcomes for youth involved in the juvenile justice system.
This report presents a conceptual and practical framework for juvenile justice and mental health systems to use when developing strategies, policies, and services aimed at improving mental health services for youth involved with the juvenile justice system, resulting in a model to identify and treat mental disorders among youth at key stages of the juvenile justice process.
This brief identifies the collaborative role that juvenile justice stakeholders can play in helping to prevent and/or reduce involvement in the justice system by addressing youth’s mental health needs.
Juvenile Justice Mental Health Diversion Guidelines and Principles
The following guideline outlines critical components of effectively diverting youth with mental health needs from juvenile justice involvement.
Guidebook for Juvenile Justice & Child Welfare System Coordination and Integration
CWLA and RFK Children’s Action Corps developed this guidebook to help state and local jurisdictions determine how they might achieve useful integration and cooperation between their child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Direction in this guidebook is based on research, evidence-based practice, and the experiences of other jurisdictions.
Texas Juvenile Mental Health and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Law Bench Book
The Judicial Commission on Mental Health’s procedural guide organized around the Sequential Intercept Model.
Texas Juvenile Justice Department
The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health developed an overview of the state of juvenile justice services in Texas in 2020 that reflects legislative impacts, data and an overview of the Texas Juvenile Justice System with some county juvenile probation highlights.
Effective Alternatives to Youth Incarceration
Through this report, The Sentencing Project Identifies six program models that consistently produce better results than youth incarceration.
Diversion from Formal Juvenile Court Processing
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s literature review is on diversion programs that range from the initial point of contact with the justice system (such as contact with the police) up until disposition in the juvenile courts, at which point a youth may still be redirected away from formal court processing.
School Mental Health Practice Guide and Toolkit
This toolkit reviews the foundational components of school-based mental health services in Texas and provides resources on ways to support youth with behavioral health needs in school-based settings.
Probation Reform: A Toolkit for State Advisory Groups
The Coalition for Juvenile Justice in partnership with The Annie E. Casey Foundation developed this toolkit to explore alternatives to traditional juvenile probation practices with structural recommendations for implementation and checklists to guide next steps.
Interactions between Youth and Law Enforcement
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s literature review will discuss the research relevant to interactions between police and youth. Topics in this review include the prevalence of police–youth interactions, factors that influence such interactions, the role of law enforcement in the juvenile justice system, and the outcome evidence of programs developed to help improve police–youth encounters.
National Guidelines for Child and Youth Behavioral Health Crisis Care
Provides guidance on how states and communities can address gaps in capacity to serve youth and families. It offers best practices, implementation strategies, and practical guidance for the design and development of services that meet the needs of American children and their families experiencing a behavioral health crisis.
Making the Case for a Comprehensive Children’s Crisis Continuum of Care-
This guide by National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors reviews the essential components of a crisis continuum.
Telehealth allows health care professionals to remotely deliver health care services, education, and public health services using telecommunication and digital technologies. Such technologies have been utilized increasingly in recent years due to several factors, including the need to improve access to health care services in rural areas where there are often shortages of providers. Mobile response teams of parent and youth peers with lived experience have been shown to mitigate workforce shortages in rural areas related to mental and behavioral health for children, youth, young adults, and their families.
Justice Involved Veterans (JIV) Program
The Texas JIV Program works to improve veteran services across the entire criminal justice continuum. JIV Managers serve as resources to provide technical assistance and training to Texas Veteran Treatment Courts, partners with local and state law enforcement to deliver officers relevant trainings such as trauma affected veterans and crisis intervention strategies and collaborates with the local jail and state prison systems to better ensure that incarcerated veterans have access to veteran-specific services and programming.
Military Veteran Peer Network (MVPN)
The MVPN is made of Texas Veterans Commission Certified Peer Service Coordinators and their peer volunteers strategically placed within the local mental health authorities across Texas to create a statewide peer-to-peer network for any service member, veteran, or family member. The MVPN provides services including direct peer-to-peer support, training on suicide prevention and military cultural competency, coordination of mental health first aid, and warm-handoffs to local resources based on the individual needs of the veteran and family.
The goal of the Homeless Veteran Initiative is to improve the accessibility of resources and services for Texas military veterans and their loved ones who are experiencing homelessness or are at-risk of becoming homeless.
Justice For Vets is a national organization dedicated to transforming the way the justice system identifies, assesses and treats our veterans, leading the national effort to put a veterans treatment court in reach of every veteran in need. Justice for Vets is committed to ensuring that no veteran is left behind by providing training and technical assistance to help communities bring together local, state, and federal resources to directly serve veterans involved in the justice system due to mental health disorders, trauma, and substance use.
Justice Involved Veterans Network
The Justice Involved Veterans Network (JIVN) is a cross divisional effort at National Institutes of Corrections in partnership with the Veterans Administration working to improve outcomes for justice involved veterans.
This framework directs behavioral health, justice system, and community stakeholders to work collaboratively across systems to design and implement evidence-based programming to forward the dual goals of individual recovery and risk reduction.
This paper may be used to advance discussions on how to better connect people who are in prisons and jails to public health insurance and other benefits, with a particular emphasis on Medicaid, to support their care upon release.
Council of State Governments Justice Center: National Reentry Resource Center
The National Reentry Resource Center (NRRC) serves as the primary source of information and guidance on reentry, advancing the use of evidence-based practices and policies and creating a network of practitioners, researchers, and policymakers invested in reducing recidivism.
This guide examines the types of interventions that support successful reentry for adults with mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders who are leaving jail/prison.
Returning to the Community: Health Care After Incarceration
This guide will assist individuals upon release and re-entering the community to better understand their health care needs, including physical and behavioral health, to learn key information, terms, people, and titles to help connect to health care services pre- and post-release. Other topics include information on insurance coverage types and how to apply, plus tips to get started using health coverage to receive needed services to support a successful reentry and healthy life.
TxCOPE is a network of communities coming together to create an effective response to the overdose epidemic and impact of opioid use. This website provides valuable resources for social service professionals and community members. Additionally, there is also an opioid overdose reporting system to help track important data in combating the opioid epidemic and providing targeted responses.
Guidelines for Managing Substance Withdrawal in Jail
Published as a collaboration between the Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, and National Institute of Corrections, this report is designed to support jails (including detention, holding, and lockup facilities) and communities in providing effective health care for adults (18 years of age and older) who are sentenced or awaiting sentencing to jail, awaiting court action on a current charge, or being held in custody for other reasons (e.g., violation of terms of probation or parole) and are at risk for or experiencing substance withdrawal.
Knowledge Bites: How to Address Overdose Risks Among People Experiencing Homelessness
Drug overdose deaths are rising precipitously, with particularly devastating results among African Americans, Latinx people, and American Indians and Alaska Natives. One of the populations most directly affected by this crisis is people experiencing homelessness. Combining the best practices of harm reduction, culturally responsive supportive housing, on-demand treatment, and peer-delivered recovery supports is imperative to break the cycle of addiction, mental illness, and homelessness.
Implementing a Mental Health Diversion Program. A Guide for Policymakers and Practitioners
A guide for policymakers and practitioners on determining if your community would benefit from a diversion center as well as the steps and phases to implementing a mental health diversion program.
The Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program
Created by the Justice Department and partners to help strengthen connections between criminal justice agencies and behavioral health organizations.
Behavioral Health Diversion Interventions: Moving from Individual Programs to System-Wide Strategy
Outlines the key components to developing a system-wide diversion strategy.
Deflection and the Deflection Pathways Fact Sheet
This fact sheet provides an overview of what deflection is, examples of initiatives utilizing one or more of the six recognized deflection pathways, and a brief description of the status of deflection-related laws in the United States.
A Community Guide for Development of a Crisis Diversion Facility
Provides a model for effective community response to behavioral health crises.
Aligning Health and Safety: The Building Blocks
A resource from the Council of State Governments Justice Center for states to support local systems advancements at the intersection of criminal justice and behavioral health.
Overview of homelessness and corrections in the United States, as well as reentry housing programs, housing programs, and resources for jails and prisons.
CSG Report: Building Connections to Housing During Reentry
To help policymakers build sustainable pathways to housing, The Council of State Governments Justice Center, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance, conducted the first national survey of state Departments of Corrections reentry coordinators, receiving responses from 37 out of 50 states plus the District of Columbia. This national report outlines current practices, highlighting areas where policymakers can direct efforts to increase connections to housing.
Supporting Justice, Behavioral Health, and Housing Collaborations through Federal Funding
Federal funding can be a key source to support the piloting, initial operations, or expansion of interventions that serve people with behavioral health needs in the justice system. These grants are also often paired with training and assistance to help communities through the challenges of advancing and sustaining new collaborations. This brief presents a range of available federal funding opportunities that focus on criminal justice, behavioral health, and housing.
Texas Mental Health and Housing Support
Texas Health and Human Services's website for Texas Mental Health and Housing Support provides helpful information on housing assessments, community resources, and emergency phone numbers for 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and the Behavioral Health Housing Hotline. The website also provides guided search tools for at-risk homelessness, homeless services, and long-term homeless services. Users can easily find organizations that offer clothing and hygiene assistance in their area by using the website's search by ZIP code tool.
Examining the Use of Braided Funding for Substance Use Disorder Services
This report from SAMHSA analyzes state and federal laws and policies that encourage braided funding to provide substance use disorder services, pathways to sustainability for substance use disorder programs, and best practices for braiding funds.
The Link Center - Briding I/DD and Mental Health Systems
The Link Center is an online resource that provides support for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), brain injuries, and other cognitive disabilities with co-occurring mental health conditions. Tools available on The Link Center include resources, technical assistance, announcements, and expertise from the organization's Steering Committee.