As noted in previous reports published by DCJS, the high incidence of mental health needs among individuals in local jails has long been recognized as a serious problem. To address this problem, the 2016 Appropriation Act established the Jail Mental Health Pilot Program (JMHPP), an 18-month grant program to provide a continuum of behavioral health services to individuals while incarcerated in local or regional jails and when released to the community.

In July 2016, 19 Virginia local and regional jails submitted concept papers to DCJS describing their proposed mental health pilot program and funding budget. In December 2016, the Criminal Justice Services Board awarded grants to six jails: Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office, Hampton Roads Regional Jail, Middle River Regional Jail, Prince William Adult Detention Center, Richmond City Sheriff’s Office, and Western Virginia Regional Jail. The Hampton Roads Regional Jail closed in 2024. Figure 1 on page 4 displays the current participating program sites. Starting with the 2019 Appropriation Act, language was added limiting the number of pilot programs to those sites participating in the first year of the pilot program.

The General Assembly renewed funding for FY2025 and DCJS provided awards to five jails included in the pilot program. The Hampton Roads Regional Jail ceased operations on April 1, 2024; thus, no FY2025 grant was made to the jail. Awards made to the five participating jails are shown in Table 1. This report covers program activities during CY2025, program trends for the past six calendar years, and highlights the successes and challenges across participating jails. The data displayed in charts throughout the report represent all of the pilot sites collectively and readers should consider the reduction from six to five participating jails when interpreting data trends between 2024 and 2025. With the exception of the recidivism data, all information included in this report was provided by the pilot site jails.