Curbing People With Mental Health Away From Jail

Newsy takes an inside look at Miami-Dade’s Mental Health Program, and how it helps people get treatment, and avoid jail.

Behind the barbed wire of jails and prisons across the country people with mental illnesses are incarcerated. But behind the doors at this courthouse in Miami is a decades long effort to divert people with serious mental illnesses away from the criminal justice system.  

"We're not gonna let you down. Keep it up, keep taking it one day at a time," said Judge Javier Enriquez.

The 11th Judicial Circuit Criminal Mental Health Project lessens the cycle of incarceration for people experiencing serious mental illness and substance use disorders. It links treatment and support programs to people who commit less serious crimes.