Resources
Faith-Based Resources
Prisons and
Criminal Justice
Alternatives to Jail
Death Penalty
US Gov't Agencies
PA Corrections
Lehigh Valley Corrections
Mental Health
Police Policies
Prison Boards
Probation and Parole
Reentry Resources
Stepping Up (mental health)
War on Drugs and Alternatives
Other Resources
Contact Us
Faith-Based Resources
Prisons and
Criminal Justice
Alternatives to Jail
Death Penalty
US Gov't Agencies
PA Corrections
Lehigh Valley Corrections
Mental Health
Police Policies
Prison Boards
Probation and Parole
Reentry Resources
Stepping Up (mental health)
War on Drugs and Alternatives
Other Resources
Contact Us
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This is a brief resource list on U.S. prisons, criminal justice, and restorative justice issues and public policy.
Pennsylvania County Prison Boards
- Pennsylvania Title 61 Pa. C.S.A. Subchapter B - COUNTY JAIL OVERSIGHT BOARDS
(second class counties; optional for other counties)
- Pennsylvania Title 61 Pa. C.S.A. Subchapter C - BOARD OF INSPECTORS
(third, fourth, and fifth class counties; optional for sixth, seventh, eighth class counties)
- Allegheny County (Second Class)
- Berks County (Third Class)
- Berks Connections/Pretrial Services - provides Reentry Services, Pretrial Services, R3: pre-apprenticeship program in the construction trades
- Prison Board - monthly public meetings (usually 2nd Wed, 9am) in person & on-line; agenda and minutes are posted
- Criminal Justice Advisory Board - CJAB is closed to the public, but website includes related resources, such as 2016-2019 strategic plan
- Bucks County (Second Class A)
- Carbon County (Sixth Class)
- Prison Board - monthly public meetings (3rd Wednesday) in person & video; agenda & minutes posted
- Criminal Justice Advisory Board - no public information
- Chester County (Third Class)
- Prison Board - monthly (last Wednesday; typically ~ 2pm) public meetings - in-person & Zoom; video, meeting minutes & reports posted
here.
- Dauphin County (Third Class)
- Board of Prison Inspectors - monthly public meetings, in person and online; meeting minutes and reports are posted.
- Criminal Justice Advisory Board - closed to the public
- Lancaster County (Third Class)
- Lehigh County (Third Class)
- Montgomery County (Second Class A)
- Northampton County (Third Class)
- Jail Advisory Board - Board members and monthly meeting schedule are public information; meetings are closed to the public since meetings and reports involve resolution of questions/complaints from specific inmates.
- Criminal Justice Advisory Board - usually closed to public; no public reports
- Philadelphia Community Oversight Board was created by an amendment to the city charter approved by voters on May 20, 2025.
Mental Health and Criminal Justice
Behavioral Health Summit - Lehigh Co. action plan Memo from President Judge J. Brian Johnson (November 2024) with preliminary list of goals:
- identify and divert mental health cases
- establish Mental Health Court
- establish juvenile CIT (crisis intervention)
- create CJAB subcommittee on Behavioral Health
(see the memo for details.)
- Also see comments on the Behavioral Health Summit (Oct. 28-29, 2024 in Hershey, PA) by Geoff Brace at the Dec. 11, 2024 Lehigh County Board of Commissioners meeting.
(See video recording here.)
- The projected costs and economic impact of mental health inequities in the United States (Deloitte Center for Health Solutions: May 15, 2024) If left unaddressed, mental health inequities could lead to about US$14 trillion in excess costs between now and 2040, according to our analysis
- Addiction Treatment: Neurocognitive Assessment looks at how addiction impacts the brain:
- Treatment Alternatives to Incarceration for Individuals Suffering from Mental Health Conditions (Boston University: May 4, 2023)
- Treatment Alternatives to Incarceration for People with Mental Health Needs in the Criminal Justice System (Vera Institute: February 2013)
- Well-intentioned mental health courts can struggle to live up to their goals
(NPR: Dec. 21, 2023)
- Most Americans with mental health needs don't get treatment, report finds
(NPR: Dec. 13, 2023)
- Three years ago, a police officer killed Christian Hall. Now, the PA legislature will study the role of 911 in mental health emergencies. (Spotlight PA: Dec. 28, 2023)
- N.J. has a new diversion program for people with mental illness who commit certain types of crimes (WHYY: Dec. 26, 2023)
- "You Send Yourselves to Jail" Coercive Diversion in the Allegheny County Mental Health Court (ALC report - December 2023)
This report exposes another abusive, violent, carceral structure, part and parcel of Allegheny County's larger systems of criminalization. The Allegheny County Mental Health Court (MHC), established in 2001, purports to divert participants with documented diagnoses of mental illness out of jail and into community-based treatment facilities. But participation requires stipulations including a guilty plea that fails to spare them from many of the worst consequences of involvement in the criminal legal system, including arrest, a guaranteed criminal record and possible incarceration
Stepping Up (mental health)
- Stepping Up: A National Initiative Reducing Overincarceration of People with Mental Illnesses
Stepping Up is a national initiative to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in jails, with Four Key Measures:
- Reduce Jail Bookings,
- Reduce Jail Length of Stay,
- Increase Connections to Treatment,
- Decrease Recidivism.
- National Association of Counties - Stepping Up Resource Guide (May 9, 2019)
- PCCD Presentation Slides on Stepping Up (2021)
- Berks County - Stepping Up (includes other resource links) May 10, 2019
- Dauphin County - Stepping Up (Sept. 6, 2022; 26-page PDF)
- Lehigh County Stepping Up Resolution (March 8, 2023) - There is a brief discussion of the Stepping Up resolution recorded on video with Commissioners Bob Elbich and Dave Harrington, and Drew Taylor (Lehigh County Director of Forensic Services). The 10-minute Stepping Up discussion starts about 30 minutes from the beginning of the video here.
There is a longer report on the Stepping Up Initiative by Drew Taylor ("Chair's Review" during Dec. 13, 2023 meeting of Lehigh County Board of Commissioners). about 35-min. presentation/discussion (beginning at 0:56:30 on video). The video recording is posted here, and the Stepping-Up Initiative presentation slides (PDF) are posted here.
- Northampton County Stepping Up Resolution (March 2, 2017; see resolution on pages 3 and 4). However, five years after this resolution was adopted, there are evidently still no statistics available.
- National Association on Mental Illness (NAMI) (Stepping Up, Crisis Intervention)
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