31-291. Mental health transition pilot program; contracted entities; inmate eligibility; rules; study; report; definition
(Rpld. 7/1/26)
A. The department shall establish the mental health transition pilot program to provide eligible inmates with transition services in the community. An inmate who is in the mental health transition pilot program may not be released before the inmate's earliest release date. The department shall administer the mental health transition pilot program and contract with private or nonprofit entities to provide eligible inmates with mental health transition services and shall procure mental health transition services pursuant to title 41, chapter 23. The department may refer an inmate who has a mental health condition to be placed in the mental health transition pilot program. The department shall place up to five hundred eligible inmates in the mental health transition pilot program each fiscal year.
B. The director shall adopt rules to implement this section. The rules shall:
1. Include eligibility criteria for an inmate to receive a contracted entity's mental health transition services. To be eligible, at a minimum, an inmate must:
(a) Agree in writing to provide specific information. The department shall use the information to prepare the report prescribed by subsection D, paragraph 3 of this section.
(b) Be diagnosed as seriously mentally ill and, on release, be eligible for Arizona health care cost containment system benefits.
2. Require that an eligible inmate be offered services, which may include health care assistance to obtain Arizona health care cost containment system-funded services, case management, housing, psychiatric management, drug testing that includes a DNA match to the person and the level of any prescription drugs and transportation.
3. Require that each eligible inmate receive services in the program for at least ninety days.
C. In awarding contracts under this section, the department shall comply with section 41-3751.
D. The department shall:
1. Conduct an annual study to determine the recidivism rates of inmates who receive a contracted entity's mental health transition services pursuant to this section. The study shall include the recidivism rates of inmates who have been released from incarceration for a minimum of two years after release.
2. Evaluate each inmate and provide the information to the contracted entity.
3. On or before December 31 of each year, submit a written report to the governor, the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives and the joint legislative budget committee and provide a copy of this report to the secretary of state. The report may be submitted electronically. The report shall contain the following information:
(a) The one-year, two-year and three-year rates of return to the department's custody for an inmate who received services in the program compared to a released inmate with a seriously mentally ill diagnosis during the same period who did not receive services in the program.
(b) The number of inmates who participated in the program at any point during the previous fiscal year.
(c) The number of inmates who completed ninety days of services in the program during the previous fiscal year.
(d) The number of inmates who were still enrolled in the program on the last day of the previous fiscal year.
(e) The number of inmates who were unsuccessfully discharged from the program during the previous fiscal year.
(f) The number of inmates who were successfully connected to Arizona health care cost containment system services during the previous fiscal year as evidenced by the inmate both completing an intake for services and using those services throughout the ninety-day period or through the end of the fiscal year, whichever occurs first.
(g) Of the inmates who participated in the program at any point during the previous fiscal year, the number of inmates who used Arizona health care cost containment system-funded mental health services, substance abuse services, psychiatric management services, case management services and transportation or housing services, or both.
4. Provide information about the mental health transition pilot program to each inmate who has a mental health condition or mental health co-occurring condition and who is not serving a life sentence on admission to prison and to each inmate who is potentially eligible for the mental health transition pilot program nine months before the inmate's earliest release date. The information must include all of the admission requirements to the mental health transition pilot program and the disqualifying factors under this section.
E. For the purposes of this section, " recidivism" means reincarceration in the department for any reason.