Additional Resources

• The American Bar Association's survey of re-entry programs is useful, albeit not fully comprehensive (Word document) (9/09)
• The Campaign for Mental Health Reform recommends strategies to reduce the disproportionate number of people with mental illnesses in jails and prisons.
• Fact Sheet: The Detrimental Effects of Group Placements/Services for Youth with Behavioral Health Problems
• The Criminal Justice/Mental Health Advocacy Handbook is a how-to guide that walks users through a well-organized series of five steps with concise pages, documented with examples from various states and localities.
• the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project, the product of a two-year effort to prepare specific recommendations that local, state and federal policymakers and criminal justice and mental health professionals, can use to improve the criminal justice system's response to people with mental illness.
• a National Institute of Justice report, The Americans with Disabilities Act and Criminal Justice: Mental Disabilities and Corrections.
• the Position Statement of the American Association of Community Psychiatrists on Persons with Mental Illness Behind Bars
• A research brief from the Center on Crime, Communities and Culture, Mental Illness in US Jails: Diverting the nonviolent low-level offender
• A 30-page booklet published by the Urban Justice Center's Mental Health Project, When a person with mental illness is arrested: How to Help (PDF). Designed for family members, friends, peer advocates and community mental health workers in New York City, the information includes phone numbers for jails, courts, defender services, etc. The booklet also includes general advice on: 1) how to locate a consumer who has been arrested; 2) how to ensure that someone receives appropriate psychiatric care while in jail; and 3) how to work with the consumer's defense attorney to advocate for a disposition to the case that will lead to treatment rather than incarceration. For information about how to obtain copies, contact Heather Barr or call (646) 602-5671 or read a PDF version.
• Prisons and Jails: Hospitals of Last Resort. The Need for Diversion and Discharge Planning for Incarcerated People with Mental Illness in New York, by Heather Barr, Soros Justice Fellow, Urban Justice Center.
• How to Help When a Person With Mental Illness is Arrested: A New York City handbook for family, friends, peer advocates and community mental health workers by Heather Barr.
• Mental Health Courts: The Advocates' Perspective, by the same author, also available as a PDF file on the Urban Justice Center's Mental Health Project's page.
• National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice: The Purpose of the National Center for Juvenile Justice is to promote awareness of the mental health needs of youth in the juvenile justice system and assist the field in developing improved policies and programs based on the best available research and practice.