Task force to seek out treatment diversion routes for mentally ill, substance abusers
A newly-created Task Force on Behavioral Health and the Criminal Justice System will immediately work to create a strategic, actionable plan to ensure proper diversion routes and treatment for people with mental illness or substance abuse within the criminal justice system, as well as before and after contact with the system.
“For far too long, our city’s jails have acted as de facto mental health facilities,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Co-Chaired by Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services Lilliam Barrios-Paoli and Director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice Elizabeth Glazer, the task force is composed of commissioners from city, state, and law enforcement agencies, district attorneys, defenders and providers in the intersecting worlds of criminal justice and behavioral health, and will be advised by experts from the private sector.