Next Meeting COMIO's next meeting will include an  Issue-Specific Workshop on Wednesday, February 1, 2017  from 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM and a full  Council Meeting on Thursday, February 2 , from 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM. Both meetings will be held at the following location: Board of Parole Hearing Executive Board Room 1515 K Street, 5th Floor, Suite 550 Sacramento, CA 95814 For the full list of COMIO Meetings for 2017 please click  here . Announcements COMIO 2016 Annual Report Released Difficult decisions are ahead for local and state policymakers. Individuals with mental illness are a growing proportion of the jail and prison population putting at risk resources needed to support community alternatives. Waiting to address behavioral health needs due to incarceration will pull scarce resources towards the wrong end of the system. The time to invest in strategies that divert individuals from incarceration and enhance service and housing capacity for tho...

Next Meeting COMIO's next meeting will include an Issue-Specific Workshop on Wednesday, February 1, 2017 from 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM and a full Council Meeting on Thursday, February 2 , from 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM. Both meetings will be held at the following location: Board of Parole Hearing Executive Board Room 1515 K Street, 5th Floor, Suite 550 Sacramento, CA 95814 For the full list of COMIO Meetings for 2017 please click here . Announcements IN THE NEWS: Health Care for the Justice-Involved Addressed in News Article from RAND Please see this editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle about the need to support health care for the justice-involved returning to communities which reflects much of what COMIO has been advocating for this year and specifically relates to three of our key recommendations: Support aggressive Medi-Cal enrollment strategies in jails, using assessment and screening tool to identify high need/ high risk populations like those with co-occurr...

Next Meeting COMIO's next meeting will be on November 2nd from 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. at the State Capitol, Room 3191, in Sacramento, CA. The Council will be sharing draft recommendations for COMIO's Legislative Report, providing an Update on the Stepping Up Initiative , and presenting COMIO Best Practices Awards to the San Diego County Probation Department and California Highway Patrol. Promising Practices ''What works' for justice-involved people with mental illness" PowerPoint Presentation  and  Frequently Asked Questions . J ennifer Skeem, PhD professor at the School of Social Welfare and Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, presented to the Council in May 2016. People with mental illness are overrepresented in the criminal justice system with the majority having a substance abuse disorder. When incarcerated they have longer stays because they are more likely to have behavioral problems and therefo...

September 4 th -11 th is Suicide Prevention Awareness Week with World Suicide Prevention Awareness Day on September 10 th Suicide, it’s a topic that’s unpleasant to think about and difficult to discuss but research shows that talking about it is exactly what’s needed. The Know the Signs campaign is California’s statewide program to help all of us learn how to recognize warning signs of suicide risk, find the words to speak to the people we care about, and reach out to available resources. The campaign’s website www.suicideispreventable.org offers details on how to take these steps. September 14 th COMIO Full Council Meeting – Join Us and See Below for Speakers and Presentations COMIO’s next meeting will be on September 14 th , at CDCR Headquarters 1515 St Street Sacramento 95811 in room 100 North Building from 10 am – 4 pm. The meeting will feature several speakers sharing evaluation results from local initiatives as well as hearing about innovative strategies to prevent i...

CDCR Recognizes LA County DA and Local Leaders with COMIO Best Practices Award "The Council on Mentally Ill Offenders (COMIO) recognized Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey's Office and the Los Angeles County Mental Health Advisory Board with a COMIO Best Practices Award for the  Blueprint for Change . The  Blueprint for Change  is an implementation plan for a comprehensive system of diversion from incarceration for youth and adults with mental illness."