The Puppies Behind Bars program, started by Gloria Gilbert Stoga in 1997, began at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York State. Since its inception, it has branched out to include five more correctional facilities in the Northeast. While the Puppies Behind Bars program is probably the most famous of its type (largely thanks to Oprah), there are other programs throughout the country that are similar in nature.

In my last several posts, I’ve reviewed what mental health court is, and the pros and cons of such a system. In my final post on this topic, we’ll take a look at what the future holds for mental health courts in the United States and some of the recommendations to improve upon this system.

In my last post, I detailed the strengths of the mental health court system, but as with all things, there are two sides to every story, and in this post, I will take a look at the criticisms of mental health courts.

With half a million individuals with mental illness incarcerated at any given time, the need for services within the criminal justice system goes beyond humane treatment of mentally ill offenders; it becomes an issue of money, and, like it or not, that is where your average citizen becomes interested.

Mental health courts are a fairly new institution in the United States. They are courts designed to meet the needs of mentally ill offenders. Similar to drug courts that address substance abusing offenders, mental health courts focus on treatment, rather than punishment.

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