Bill > S179

Introduced Session

According to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, most jail inmates with serious mental illness are either charged with minor crimes directly related to the symptoms of their untreated illness, or charged with no crimes at all. To address this serious issue, this bill establishes a two-year "Mental Health Advocacy Pilot Program" to be administered by the Assistant Commissioner of the Division of Mental Health Services in the Department of Human Services. The purpose of the program is to provide community-based treatment for mental illness as an alternative to incarceration in those cases in which such treatment will be more beneficial to the offender, as well as to the community. It is the expectation that a mental health advocacy program for offenders with serious mental illness will reduce the criminalization of persons with serious mental illness and increase their access to appropriate mental health treatment. The pilot program will be developed in Atlantic, Union and Essex counties. Participation shall be limited to offenders over 18 years of age with severe mental illness who voluntarily participate in the program. One nonprofit organization shall be designated to serve as a community treatment liaison in each county. The liaison shall provide mental health services and case management coordination for individuals with serious mental illness who are involved with the criminal justice system, and will serve both as a liaison between the criminal justice and human services systems and as a resource for attorneys who represent individuals with serious mental illness. The program is to provide, among other things, an individual service plan that identifies the services to be provided and case management services to monitor each participant. Each program shall report to the Division of Mental Health Services within 15 months after the effective date of this bill, on the following: C the specific actions taken by the program on behalf of each participant; C the effectiveness of the program in meeting its objectives; C the number of participants and outcomes after one year; C the number of jail days and inpatient psychiatric hospitalization days of each participant for the year of the program and the year prior to the program; and C an analysis of the costs of providing community-based treatment for program participants as compared to the estimated cost of incarceration for the participants if they had been incarcerated. No later than 18 months after the effective date of this bill, the Assistant Commissioner of the Division of Mental Health Services shall submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature with recommendations to continue and improve the program and expand it Statewide. The provisions of this bill are in accordance with the recommendations of the Governors Mental Health Task Force.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Richard Codey (D)*,  Nick Scutari (D)*,  Nia Gill (D),  Raymond Lesniak (D),  Ronald Rice (D),  Joe Vitale (D), 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee (on 01/12/2010)