(1) The Criminal Justice, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse Statewide Grant Review Committee, in collaboration with the Department of Children and Families, the Department of Corrections, the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Department of Elderly Affairs, and the Office of the State Courts Administrator, shall establish criteria to be used to review submitted applications and to select the county that will be awarded a 1-year planning grant or a 3-year implementation or expansion grant. A planning, implementation, or expansion grant may not be awarded unless the application of the county meets the established criteria.
(a) The application criteria for a 1-year planning grant must include a requirement that the applicant county or counties have a strategic plan to initiate systemic change to identify and treat individuals who have a mental illness, substance abuse disorder, or co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders who are in, or at risk of entering, the criminal or juvenile justice systems. The 1-year planning grant must be used to develop effective collaboration efforts among participants in affected governmental agencies, including the criminal, juvenile, and civil justice systems, mental health and substance abuse treatment service providers, transportation programs, and housing assistance programs. The collaboration efforts shall be the basis for developing a problem-solving model and strategic plan for treating adults and juveniles who are in, or at risk of entering, the criminal or juvenile justice system and doing so at the earliest point of contact, taking into consideration public safety. The planning grant shall include strategies to divert individuals from judicial commitment to community-based service programs offered by the Department of Children and Families in accordance with ss. 916.13 and 916.17.
(b) The application criteria for a 3-year implementation or expansion grant shall require information from a county that demonstrates its completion of a well-established collaboration plan that includes public-private partnership models and the application of evidence-based practices. The implementation or expansion grants may support programs and diversion initiatives that include, but need not be limited to:
1. Mental health courts.
2. Diversion programs.
3. Alternative prosecution and sentencing programs.
4. Crisis intervention teams.
5. Treatment accountability services.
6. Specialized training for criminal justice, juvenile justice, and treatment services professionals.
7. Service delivery of collateral services such as housing, transitional housing, and supported employment.
8. Reentry services to create or expand mental health and substance abuse services and supports for affected persons.
9. Coordinated specialty care programs.
(c) Each county application must include the following information:
1. An analysis of the current population of the jail and juvenile detention center in the county, which includes:
a. The screening and assessment process that the county uses to identify an adult or juvenile who has a mental illness, substance abuse disorder, or co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders;
b. The percentage of each category of persons admitted to the jail and juvenile detention center that represents people who have a mental illness, substance abuse disorder, or co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders; and
c. An analysis of observed contributing factors that affect population trends in the county jail and juvenile detention center.
2. A description of the strategies the county intends to use to serve one or more clearly defined subsets of the population of the jail and juvenile detention center who have a mental illness or to serve those at risk of arrest and incarceration. The proposed strategies may include identifying the population designated to receive the new interventions, a description of the services and supervision methods to be applied to that population, and the goals and measurable objectives of the new interventions. The interventions a county may use with the target population may include, but are not limited to:
a. Specialized responses by law enforcement agencies;
b. Centralized receiving facilities for individuals evidencing behavioral difficulties;
c. Postbooking alternatives to incarceration;
d. New court programs, including pretrial services and specialized dockets;
e. Specialized diversion programs;
f. Intensified transition services that are directed to the designated populations while they are in jail or juvenile detention to facilitate their transition to the community;
g. Specialized probation processes;
h. Day-reporting centers;
i. Linkages to community-based, evidence-based treatment programs for adults and juveniles who have mental illness or substance abuse disorders; and
j. Community services and programs designed to prevent high-risk populations from becoming involved in the criminal or juvenile justice system.
3. The projected effect the proposed initiatives will have on the population and the budget of the jail and juvenile detention center. The information must include:
a. The county’s estimate of how the initiative will reduce the expenditures associated with the incarceration of adults and the detention of juveniles who have a mental illness;
b. The methodology that the county intends to use to measure the defined outcomes and the corresponding savings or averted costs;
c. The county’s estimate of how the cost savings or averted costs will sustain or expand the mental health and substance abuse treatment services and supports needed in the community; and
d. How the county’s proposed initiative will reduce the number of individuals judicially committed to a state mental health treatment facility.
4. The proposed strategies that the county intends to use to preserve and enhance its community mental health and substance abuse system, which serves as the local behavioral health safety net for low-income and uninsured individuals.
5. The proposed strategies that the county intends to use to continue the implemented or expanded programs and initiatives that have resulted from the grant funding.
(2)(a) As used in this subsection, the term “available resources” includes in-kind contributions from participating counties.
(b) A 1-year planning grant may not be awarded unless the applicant county makes available resources in an amount equal to the total amount of the grant. A planning grant may not be used to supplant funding for existing programs. For fiscally constrained counties, the available resources may be at 50 percent of the total amount of the grant.
(c) A 3-year implementation or expansion grant may not be awarded unless the applicant county or consortium of counties makes available resources equal to the total amount of the grant. For fiscally constrained counties, the available resources may be at 50 percent of the total amount of the grant. This match shall be used for expansion of services and may not supplant existing funds for services. An implementation or expansion grant must support the implementation of new services or the expansion of services and may not be used to supplant existing services.
(3) Using the criteria adopted by rule, the county designated or established criminal justice, juvenile justice, mental health, and substance abuse planning council or committee shall prepare the county or counties’ application for the 1-year planning or 3-year implementation or expansion grant. The county shall submit the completed application to the statewide grant review committee.
History.—s. 3, ch. 2007-200; s. 5, ch. 2010-159; s. 94, ch. 2014-19; s. 6, ch. 2020-39.