This paper describes the features of the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program, which is a grant program created under the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (MIOTCRA) and is administered by the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).
The grant program helps States, local governments, Indian tribes, and tribal organizations to improve responses to people with mental illnesses who are involved with the criminal justice system. The JMHCP facilitates collaboration among the criminal justice, juvenile justice, mental health treatment, and substance abuse treatment systems to serve these individuals and increase public safety. The grant program provides funds for three purposes. One purpose is to create effective responses at each step of the criminal justice process. A second purpose is to provide training and cross-training for mental health and justice professionals; and a third purpose is to support strategic planning among partners from justice, mental health, and substance abuse agencies. The grant awards are in three categories: planning grants, planning and implementation grants, and expansion grants. Planning grants are for designing a strategic multidisciplinary plan to identify and treat justice-involved individuals with mental illnesses and co-occurring substance use disorders. Planning and implementation grants focus on completing a strategic planning process for a criminal justice/mental health collaborative program and its implementation. Expansion grants assist in improving or expanding existing collaborative projects focused on serving justice-involved individuals with mental illness. The Federal technical assistance provided under the JMHCP grant program is also described. 4 endnotes