Vera’s Substance Use and Mental Health Program uses applied research to help government and community-based organizations reduce criminal justice involvement, increase access to treatment, and improve stability in the community for substance users and people with mental health problems.
For many of those caught up in the justice system, criminal involvement is inextricably linked with substance use and psychiatric problems. Those suffering from serious mental illness may be unable to function in the community without support, while others self-medicate with illicit substances, leading to arrest on drug charges. There are currently an estimated three times as many people with mental illness in our nation’s prisons and jails than in psychiatric hospitals, and over 70 percent of inmates with mental illness report problems with drugs or alcohol. Arrest and incarceration can fracture contact with treatment and supportive services in the community, and many are trapped in a cycle of arrest, release, and re-arrest, never receiving the services that can help address underlying substance use and mental health problems.
These are complex issues that affect hundreds of thousands of Americans every year and that Vera has been working on since 1967, when the Institute’s first pilot program, the Manhattan Bowery Project, began providing addiction treatment services to homeless men and women living on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Although that project eventually spun off to become Project Renewal, one of the city’s largest nonprofit housing services, Vera is still addressing those issues through the work of its Substance Use and Mental Health Program. This program aims to provide public officials and community organizations with the information they need to create and fund evidenced-based services and policies that treat addiction, mental illness, and co-occurring problems. Some of our projects include:
Understanding Mental Illness and Service Provision Among Inmates at Rikers Island
New York City is the first jurisdiction in the United States to mandate psychiatric screening and discharge planning services for city jail inmates with mental health problems. In partnership with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Department of Correction, program staff are using administrative jail data to describe the psychiatric diagnosis and criminal history of a sample of Rikers inmates. This will be the most detailed description of mental health needs of the city’s jail population to date.
The Guardianship Program Evaluation
Since January 2006, Vera’s Guardianship Project has been operating out of the Brooklyn Courthouse to serve city residents who are unable to care for themselves, often because of mental illness, disability, or age. Substance Use and Mental Health Program staff are conducting a process evaluation of this new program to describe the nature of the work, outline its costs and its challenges, understand how its services are different from those provided by court-assigned guardianship lawyers, and document some of the experiences of different people who have had a stake in the program.
The EXIT Program Evaluation
The Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES) established the EXIT program in 2002 as an alternative to jail for mentally ill individuals arrested for non-violent misdemeanors. The program, which operated in the New York City borough of Manhattan, offered a short mandated component with minimal judicial oversight, making it a viable alternative to short jail sentences. Vera collaborated with CASES to evaluate EXIT, describing the program’s operation in the courts, the services provided, and outcomes for a sample of program clients.
The Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES) established the EXIT program in 2002 as an alternative to jail for mentally ill individuals arrested for non-violent misdemeanors. The program, which operated in the New York City borough of Manhattan, offered a short mandated component with minimal judicial oversight, making it a viable alternative to short jail sentences. Vera collaborated with CASES to evaluate EXIT, describing the program’s operation in the courts, the services provided, and outcomes for a sample of program clients.
To learn more about the Substance Use and Mental Health Program, please contact program director, Jim Parsons.