This publication focusing on initial detention and court hearings is third in a series on rural community solutions to address substance abuse disorder as part of the Responses to the Opioid Epidemic (RROE) project’s implementation of the Sequential Intercept Model (SIM).
This brief examines how three Rural Responses to the Opioid Epidemic (RROE) project sites implement programs and policies that help divert individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs) who have been arrested away from jail booking and/or court involvement. This series explores how RROE sites’ efforts aligned at each point of the Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) and the public safety/public health partnerships that strengthened these efforts. Intercept 2 of the SIM begins when an individual is arrested, goes through initial intake and booking, and faces a hearing presided over by a judge or magistrate. Effective responses to individuals under Intercept 2 include policies that allow for bonds to be set to enable diversion to community-based services and/or treatment and post-booking release programs that transition people into community-based treatment programs. Key elements for diversion at this intercept include validated screening instruments for mental health disorders and SUDs, data matching between systems to get a complete profile of an individual, and pretrial supervision with specialized mental health services. The Rural Responses to the Opioid Epidemic (RROE) project, co-funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the State Justice Institute, supported 21 rural sites across the country to develop or enhance efforts to strengthen epidemiologic surveillance and public health data infrastructure; implement effective community-level opioid overdose prevention activities; and establish or enhance public safety, public health, and behavioral health collaborations. The SIM delineates how individuals with mental health disorders and SUDs move through the criminal justice system. The purpose of the SIM is to help communities identify gaps in services. The goal is to encourage collaboration among community leaders and stakeholders to work together to divert people with behavioral health issues away from the justice system and into a network of treatment alternatives.