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Spindletop Center received $550k for Orange County inmates' mental health care.
The Spindletop Center announced Oct. 14 that it has been awarded $550,000 to aid the organization with psychiatric services it provides for inmates in the Orange County Jail, and to implement the Justice and Mental Health Liaison Program (JMHLP) at the local correctional facility.
According to Spindletop Center, the Department of Justice (DOJ) granted the nonprofit center the funding under the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP). With the funds, the Justice and Mental Health Liaison Program will be able to coordinate and integrate services between and with the court, the jail and other community-based providers in Orange County. The JMHLP liaison will “focus on meeting the mental health needs of defendants as well as the expectations of the judicial system, and promote a collaborative approach to criminal cases involving defendants with mental illness, focusing on timely identification of mental illness and appropriate re-emergence into the community,” the center reports.
“This is a collaboration that we’re going in with Orange County to help expand the program we already have in this area to help individuals who are in the judicial system and have a mental health condition,” said Thomas Smith, a Crisis Prevention Specialist at Spindletop Center. “We’re looking forward to moving ahead with this opportunity."
The JMHCP is an opportunity for funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance for support of cross-system collaborations to improve public safety responses and outcomes for individuals with mental health disorders or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders who come into contact with the justice system. Spindletop Center received one of only 28 JMHCP grants awarded for fiscal year 2022.
Learn more about Spindletop Center online at: www.spindletopcenter.org.