[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 55 (Thursday, April 16, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H2273-H2274]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    INTRODUCTION OF THE COMPREHENSIVE JUSTICE AND MENTAL HEALTH ACT

  (Mr. COLLINS of Georgia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, this morning, I am introducing 
the Comprehensive Justice and Mental Health Act. This bill is a 
bipartisan effort to make communities safer by improving access to 
mental health services for people in the criminal justice system.
  U.S. jails have effectively replaced in-patient mental health 
facilities as the largest institutional treatment providers for adults 
with mental illnesses. Each year, more than 2 million people with 
serious mental illnesses are booked into jails, as well as millions 
more coping with less serious mental illnesses that jails are 
nonetheless required to address.

[[Page H2274]]

  This is not right. Our jails are not mental health facilities. We can 
do better with the way we treat the mentally ill in the justice system, 
and we can do it while reducing costs and increasing public safety.
  At a recent TED Talks, comedian and mental health activist Ruby White 
asked: How come every other organ in your body can get sick and you get 
sympathy, except the brain?
  My bill will by no means solve the problem, but it is a step we can 
take to show some compassion, improve lives, and reduce recidivism by 
more appropriately responding to the mental health needs of those in 
the criminal justice system.
  I encourage each of my colleagues to cosponsor and join me in this 
effort.

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