Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Solutions to restore inmates' mental health and get them to trial

    In Texas, legislators and advocates are working to address mental health concerns for individuals entering or in the criminal justice system. For those already in jail, telepsychiatry is being offered to help rehabilitate inmates. For those just entering the system, a mental health court in Travis County has been developed to connect people with needed mental health services so that they can stand trial and even have their cases dismissed.

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  • Outpatient Competency Restoration

    In Texas’ Travis County, a mental health court is helping divert people out of the criminal justice system and into treatment and outpatient programs. The collaborative process gives individuals the opportunity for rehabilitation, and upon completion, the chance to have their case dismissed. This approach has seen a 42% success rate, showing a decrease in recidivism and increased connection to treatment facilities.

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  • Locked In Limbo: Jail-based Competency Restoration

    Experts, advocates, and lawmakers are working within the Texas prison system to help individuals experiencing incarceration access mental health care. A promising practice has been the use of telepsychiatry, or virtual therapy, which has seen a nearly 50% success rate. While efforts are being made, it’s being done in pieces and without scaled, statewide support.

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  • Teachable Moments on the Dock

    A British Columbia project that includes education with regulations is a winning formula for rockfish conservation. Six cameras were placed strategically around the shoreline next to Galiano Island RCAs, and 46 information signs were posted at marinas and docks. The signs provide photos to help identify rockfish, show the boundaries of the RCAs, and offer specifics on the fishing rules. Team members also appear at community events to distribute information on RCAs, explaining how they work and what they are intended to achieve.

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  • Washington D.C. Works to Fill a Gap in Treatment for Justice-Involved Individuals

    Washington, D.C. is piloting an approach called Thinking for a Change to help break the cycle of recidivism. The approach itself has been around since 1997, and it brings together individuals involved in the justice system for facilitated small-group sessions on conflict resolution, social skills, and problem-solving. While still in the early phases in D.C, the approach has had demonstrable effects in other places, and early adopters in D.C. are pushing for more.

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  • A ‘Pandemic's-worth of Triggers' Are Causing an Increase in Relapses Across the Country. Here's How Appalachians Are Coping.

    Stay-at-home orders and social distancing can worsen opioid addiction problems, and so some health providers, social media, and agencies in opioid-heavy Appalachia have devised ways to turn a threat into an opportunity. To counter isolation and denial of in-person counseling, forums on Reddit have thrived as virtual support groups. Video conferencing has proved a boon to telemedicine and counselors, extending the reach of services. Treatment providers and even Kentucky's prisons are distributing medications in novel ways to help people maintain sobriety and avoid overdoses.

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  • Stifled Progress

    Less than two years after Florida voters abolished the state’s lifetime ban on voting by anyone with a felony criminal record – a law that disenfranchised more than 10% of the state's voting-age people – an estimated 50,000 affected people had registered to vote and organizers were working to register the balance of the 1.4 million newly eligible voters. Amendment 4, the Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative, won widespread voter approval and initially survived an attempt by legislators to undermine it thanks to a grassroots movement organized by formerly incarcerated people.

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  • Mothers flourish with sister's support after incarceration

    Hour Children is one of several programs throughout the U.S. that focuses on employing "God-given dignity" to help incarcerated mothers maintain relationships with their children and find sustainable futures after their sentences have ended. The latter goal is achieved through the ministry's year-long employment and job-training program. Although it is uncertain how the program will proceed during the Covid-19 pandemic, for the last three years, a local manufacturing company has consistently hired alumni from the program due to their training.

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  • America's Other Epidemic: A new approach to fighting the opioid crisis as it quietly rages on

    To close a gap in drug treatment that often denies help to people who end up jailed, a hospital employee schooled in the strong evidence of effectiveness of medication-assisted treatment cobbled together a program using Medicaid funding and the cooperation of the courts and medical community. The program is rare in rural America. Though still small, the Courts Addiction & Drug Services program ended its first year with no overdoses, and only a handful of relapses, among its dozens of participants. In a region where MAT drugs are nearly impossible to get, the program is now working to expand its services.

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  • In Spain, a Strong Sense of Solidarity Drives Endurance in the Pandemic

    Spain's collectivist culture, free public-health system, and economic support structures have helped the country to combat the spread of coronavirus. One measure – known as "temporary employment regulation file, or expediente de regulación temporaria de empleo" – specifically helps those who would have otherwise lost their jobs due to business closures by allowing the employer to sign his or her employees up :to get paid by the state a monthly amount of approximately 70 percent of her/his latest taxable salary."

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