Treatment Not Incarceration

Mental Health Courts Could Save Lives

Jails and prisons throughout the country have become the de facto mental health wards for people too sick to be in their communities. But living behind bars is hardly conducive to treatment, and people often find themselves languishing or worse.

One solution to this problem could be mental health courts, which seek to divert people from the criminal justice system by connecting them to treatment and community resources. But there are only a few hundred across the country, and they are largely underfunded and understaffed. In many cases, they turn away people who might benefit from treatment because they don’t meet strict criteria.

“Far too often, eligibility is determined by the type of charges an individual faces, rather than whether their contact with the criminal legal system is due to a mental health condition and/ or a substance use disorder,” according to a recently released policy brief from the Mental Health Project of the Urban Justice Cente…