(a) A county shall be eligible to apply for either an adult mentally ill offender grant or a juvenile mentally ill offender grant or both in accordance with all other provisions of this article. The board shall provide a separate and competitive grant application and award process for each of the adult and juvenile mentally ill offender crime reduction grant categories. The board shall endeavor to assist counties that apply for grants in both categories in meeting any grant submission requirements that may overlap between the two categories of grants.
(b) (1) A county that applies for an adult mentally ill offender grant shall establish a strategy committee to design the grant application that includes, at a minimum, the sheriff or director of the county department of corrections in a county where the sheriff does not administer the county jail system, who shall chair the committee, and representatives from other local law enforcement agencies, the chief probation officer, the county mental health director, a superior court judge, a former offender who is or has been a client of a mental health treatment facility, and representatives from organizations that can provide or have provided treatment or stabilization services for mentally ill offenders, including treatment, housing, income or job support, and caretaking.
(2) A county that applies for a juvenile mentally ill offender grant shall establish a strategy committee that includes, at a minimum, the chief probation officer who shall chair the committee, representatives from local law enforcement agencies, the county mental health director, a superior court judge, a client or former offender who has received juvenile mental health services, and representatives from organizations that can provide or have provided treatment or support services for mentally ill juvenile offenders, including therapy, education, employment, housing, and caretaking services.
(3) A county that applies for both types of grants may convene a combined strategy committee that includes the sheriff or jail administrator and the chief probation officer as cochairs of the committee, as well as representation from the other agencies, departments, and disciplines designated in paragraphs (1) and (2) for both types of committees.
(c) The strategy committee shall develop and describe in its grant application a comprehensive county plan for providing a cost-effective continuum of responses and services for mentally ill adult offenders or mentally ill juvenile offenders, including prevention, intervention, and incarceration-based services, as appropriate. The plan shall describe how the responses and services included in the plan have been proven to be or are designed to be effective in addressing the mental health needs of the target offender population, while also reducing recidivism and custody levels for mentally ill offenders in adult or juvenile detention or correctional facilities. Strategies for prevention, intervention, and incarceration-based services in the plan shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(1) Mental health and substance abuse treatment for mentally ill adult offenders or mentally ill juvenile offenders who are presently placed, incarcerated, or housed in a local adult or juvenile detention or correctional facility or who are under supervision by the probation department after having been released from a state or local adult or juvenile detention or correctional facility.
(2) Prerelease, reentry, continuing, and community-based services designed to provide long-term stability for juvenile or adult offenders outside of the facilities of the adult or juvenile justice systems, including services to support a stable source of income, a safe and decent residence, and a conservator or caretaker, as needed in appropriate cases.
(3) For mentally ill juvenile offender applications, one or more of the following strategies that has proven to be effective or has evidence-based support for effectiveness in the remediation of mental health disorders and the reduction of offending: short-term and family-based therapies, collaborative interagency service agreements, specialized court-based assessment and disposition tracks or programs, or other specialized mental health treatment and intervention models for juvenile offenders that are proven or promising from an evidence-based perspective.
(d) The plan as included in the grant application shall include the identification of specific outcome and performance measures and for annual reporting on grant performance and outcomes to the board that will allow the board to evaluate, at a minimum, the effectiveness of the strategies supported by the grant in reducing crime, incarceration, and criminal justice costs related to mentally ill offenders. The board shall, in the grant application process, provide guidance to counties on the performance measures and reporting criteria to be addressed in the application.
(Added by Stats. 2014, Ch. 26, Sec. 32. (AB 1468) Effective June 20, 2014.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018