"Juvenile Detention Centers: Warehousing Children with Mental Illness?"

An Open Letter to Members of Congress Signed by More than 130 National and State Advocacy Groups

July 7, 2004

The undersigned state and national advocacy organizations- representing diverse constituencies -join together to express our strong concern about the high numbers of youth with mental disorders who are incarcerated unnecessarily in juvenile detention facilities awaiting access to community mental health services.

We believe that juvenile justice systems should not serve as de facto mental health systems as a result of insufficient community and school-based mental health resources, services, providers and other barriers that prevent children and youth from obtaining necessary mental health treatment. The cost of such inadequacies comes at the expense of the children who languish needlessly jeopardizing their health while the justice facility unfairly becomes the “placement of last resort” ill-equipped to deal with the complex treatment needs of this vulnerable population.

It is estimated that at least one out of every five youth in the juvenile justice system has a serious mental health disorder. This figure represents approximately 20,000 of the more than 100,000 youth held in custody in juvenile justice facilities across the country, either awaiting trial in detention centers or having been placed in residential facilities after being convicted of delinquencies.

We applaud the leadership of Senator Susan Collins and Representative Henry Waxman for their close examination of this problem by commissioning the first national survey of youth held unnecessarily in juvenile detention centers for lack of access to mental health services. The findings of their study will undoubtedly mirror the sentiments of those who have worked in corrections, mental health and with youth and are awaiting reforms. It will also inform the public at large - who as taxpayers foot the bill for this inefficiency and neglect.

We call on Congress to enact legislative proposals that will improve access to essential community and school-based mental health services and supports through promoting integrated systems of care for youth with mental disorders through improved coordination of local and state child serving systems; increasing funding of community and school-based mental health services; allowing expansions of federal health entitlement programs; fostering state and local collaboration programs to connect youth with mental health services; and other proposals that seek to avoid a host of adverse outcomes for youth who are unable to access treatment including custody relinquishment, contact with law enforcement, homelessness and school failure.

Currently before Congress are the following bipartisan proposals that merit consideration and swift approval by Congress:

• The Keeping Families Together Act (S. 1704, H.R. 3243)
• The Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (S. 1194, H.R. 2387)

The undersigned organizations look forward to working with Members of Congress to enact these reforms that will help address this widespread national problem.

ON BEHALF OF:

ACLU National Prison Project
Advocates for Children and Youth
Advocates for Justice and Education, Inc.
Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program (ADAP)
Alliance for Children and Families
Alston Wilkes Society
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
American Association of Community Psychiatrists
American Association of People with Disabilities
American Council of the Blind
American Counseling Association
American Correctional Association
American Correctional Chaplains Association
American Dance Therapy Association
American Group Psychotherapy Association
American Mental Health Counselors Association
American Music Therapy Association
American Orthopsychiatric Association
American Probation and Parole Association
American Psychiatric Association
American Psychological Association
ASPE: The Network on Employment
Association for Ambulatory Behavioral Healthcare
Association for the Advancement of Psychology
Association of Women Executives in Corrections
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Brain Injury Association of America
Center for Public Representation
Center for the Promotion of Mental Health in Juvenile Justice at Columbia University)
Center for Youth as Resources
Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders
Children’s Action Alliance (Arizona)
Children’s Campaign (Florida)
Children’s Defense Fund
Children’s Law Center (Washington, DC)
Citizens for Juvenile Justice (Massachusetts)
Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants-Virginia, Inc.
City of Los Angeles Department of Disability
Coalition for Juvenile Justice (Virginia)
Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance
Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders
Council for Exceptional Children
Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators
Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates
Delaware Center for Justice
Delaware Collaboration for Youth
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance
Disability Rights Center (Arkansas)
Disability Rights Center (Maine)
Disability Rights Center, Inc. (New Hampshire)
Epilepsy Foundation
Family Violence Prevention Fund
Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health
Human Rights Watch
International Community Corrections Association
Illinois Juvenile Justice Initiative
Indiana Juvenile Justice Task Force, Inc.
International Society of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses
Iowa Protection and Advocacy Services, Inc.
Justice Policy Institute
Juvenile Justice Center Suffolk University Law School
Juvenile Justice Coalition (New York)
Juvenile Justice Coalition (Ohio)
Juvenile Justice Family Advocacy Initiative & Resources
Juvenile Justice Initiative (Illinois)
Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana
Juvenile Justice Trainers Association
Juvenile Law Center
Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority
Learning Disabilities Association of America
Maryland Juvenile Justice Coalition
Mental Health Association of Charlottesville Albemarle
Michigan Association for Children with Emotional Disorders
Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency
Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service, Inc.
Mid-Atlantic Juvenile Defender Center (at the Univ of Richmond School of Law)
Midwest Juvenile Defender Center
Missouri Juvenile Justice Association
NAADAC- The Association for Addiction Professionals
NAMI-National Alliance for the Mentally Ill
National Alliance to End Homelessness
National Association for Children of Alcoholics
National Association for Children’s Behavioral Health
National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities
National Association of County Behavioral Health Directors
National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems
National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems
National Association of School Psychologists
National Association of Social Workers
National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors
National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice
National Center for Youth Law
National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare
National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
National Indian Child Welfare Association
National Juvenile Detention Association
National Mental Health Association
National Network for Statewide Juvenile Justice Collaborations
National Network for Youth
National Partnership for Juvenile Services
National Police Accountability Project of the National Lawyers Guild
National Respite Coalition
New Jersey Chapter of the American Correctional Association
New Jersey Protection and Advocacy, Inc.
New York Juvenile Justice Coalition
North American Council on Adoptable Children
Northwest Juvenile Defender Center
Oregon Advocacy Center
Parents Who Care Coalition (South Dakota)
Penal Reform International
Physicians for Human Rights
Rights Task Force of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities
School Social Work Association of America
South Dakota Coalition for Children
South Dakota Peace & Justice Center
Southern Juvenile Defender Center
Southwest Regional Juvenile Defender Center
Suicide Prevention Action Network USA
The Arc of the United States
The New England Juvenile Defender Center
Tourette Syndrome Association
Union for Reform Judaism
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
United Cerebral Palsy
Virginia Coalition for Juvenile Justice
Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice
Voices for Virginia’s Children
Volunteers of America
Wisconsin Council on Children and Families
Women of Reform Judaism
Youth Justice Coalition/Free L.A.!
Youth Law Center
Youth Law T.E.A.M. of Indiana