Who receives mental health treatment? Mental health treatment is ordered either by the U.S. district court or by the U.S. Parole Commission as a condition of releasing individuals under federal supervision to the community. These persons either are on probation, parole, or supervised release after being in prison, under pretrial supervision while awaiting a court appearance, or conditionally released after incarceration at a Bureau of Prisons Federal Medical Center. What is the purpose of mental health treatment? Mental health treatment provides officers with the ability and the means to identify, assess, and provide treatment for defendants and offenders with mental disorders as ordered by the court or U.S. Parole Commission. For offenders under post-conviction supervision, treatment helps officers enforce the conditions imposed by the court or Parole Commission, control the danger defendants and offenders may pose to society, deter criminal behavior, and promote law-abiding behavior. For defendants under pretrial supervision, treatment helps officers reasonably assure that these persons appear in court and that society is protected from potential harm. When is a defendant or offender considered to be suffering from a mental health disorder? According to the Guide to Judiciary Policies and Procedures, a defendant or offender is considered to be suffering from some form of mental disease or defect when the individual’s behavior or feelings deviate so substantially from the norm as to indicate disorganized thinking, perception, mood, orientation, and memory. Mental health disease or defect may range from the mildly maladaptive to the profoundly psychotic and may result in unrealistic or aberrant behavior, grossly impaired judgment, inability to control impulses or to care for oneself or meet the demands of daily life, loss of contact with reality, or violence to oneself or others. How do officers identify individuals with mental health problems? Individuals may come to the probation or pretrial services office already diagnosed with a mental health disorder. Or, officers may identify these persons through information in case files, interviews with the individuals and their families and friends, or consultation with mental health professionals. How many individuals with court-ordered mental health conditions does the federal probation and pretrial services system supervise? As of September 30, 2002, of the more than 135,000 persons under the supervision of U.S. probation and pretrial services officers, almost 11,000 were receiving contracted mental health treatment services. Although the number seems relatively small, the persons in this particular group can be especially challenging to supervise. How is supervising these individuals difficult? Compared to the average defendant or offender, the individual with mental health challenges routinely needs more intensive monitoring, often requires specialized or individualized treatment, and is potentially more dangerous (particularly if he or she has a prior history of violence, suffers from psychotic disorders, and fails to take prescribed medications). http://probation.wawd.uscourts.gov/aboutuspo/documents/Court.MH.pdf Did Davy try Insanity? Or is there something the Court Noticed?