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Released by Stepping Up: A National Initiative to Reduce the Number of People with Mental Illnesses in Jail, this report is intended to assist counties with developing and implementing a systems-level, data-driven plan that can lead to measurable reductions in the number of people with mental illnesses in local jails. The report serves as a blueprint for counties to assess their existing efforts to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in jail by considering specific questions and progress-tracking measures. Read More

This handbook is designed to complement the Reducing the Number of People with Mental Illnesses in Jail: Six Questions County Leaders Need to Ask (Six Questions) framework as a step-by-step facilitation guide for project coordinators. Read More

Counties should have a clear and accurate process for identifying people with mental illnesses coming into the jail. This requires conducting a screening for symptoms of mental illness on every person booked into jail, as well as for other behavioral health needs such as substance use disorders. Jails should also screen individuals for pretrial and criminogenic risks to help determine release and supervision strategies. People who screen positive for symptoms of mental illness should be referred to a follow-up clinical assessment by a licensed mental health professional. Ideally, these clinical assessment results will be recorded in a database or spreadsheet that can be queried. Having accurate information on individuals’ risk and needs will assist with referrals to mental health treatment while they are in the jail and connections to services when they are released. Having the ability to store and query this information using system-wide definitions of mental illness and serious mental illness will assist with county planning efforts. Read More

The goal of this publication is to provide rural county leaders with ideas and strategies for addressing these challenges by providing examples of counties that have successfully done so or are making progress. There is no one strategy that will work for all counties, or all rural counties. But county leaders are encouraged to learn from each other’s experiences and adapt their peers’ policies, practices and programs to fit the needs of their county and residents. Read More

An extensive data analysis coupled with over 50 in-person interviews with stakeholders in Salt Lake County’s justice and behavioral health systems led to the identification of key recommendations improve outcomes for people involved with the county’s criminal justice system, particular those with behavioral health disorders. Read More

The Stepping Up initiative encourages counties to reduce the number of people with mental illness in county jail systems. Counties in California are increasingly focusing their efforts on addressing mental illness in the criminal justice system, but one of the barriers to making progress in this work is accurately identifying who has mental illness in jail systems and collecting data on this population. This webinar will provide an overview of the recommended three-step approach for identifying mental illness in jails that is required to be a Stepping Up Innovator. The webinar will feature representatives from California’s two recognized Innovator Sites, Calaveras County and San Luis Obispo County, who will discuss their screening, assessment, and data collection processes. There will also be time for questions and answers on the webinar. Read More

This webinar gave an overview of the recommended approach for identifying and collecting data on people with mental illness in jails. The three steps include: 1) using a shared definition of serious mental illness across justice and behavioral health systems; 2) screening people booked into jail using a validated screening tool for serious mental illness and referring people who screen positive for assessment; and 3) recording screening and assessment information electronically and regularly reporting out on this population Read More

The Stepping Up Four Key Measures Case Studies serve as a quick reference to the strategies highlighted in this series and share suggested sub-measures associated with each of these measures to help counties better collect and analyze their data. Read More

This webinar gave an overview of how counties can start or re-engage their Stepping Up planning and implementation process, following the Stepping Up Six Questions Framework Read More