Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ) Integrated Co-Occurring Disorders Treatment Program

Section 101 of the Second Chance Act authorizes the Department of Justice to award grants to states, units of local government, and tribal governments to improve reentry outcomes for incarcerated youth. Under the Second Chance Act Ensuring Public Safety and Improving Outcomes for Youth in Confinement and While Under Community Supervision program, Category 1: Implementing Evidence-Based Substance Abuse and Mental Health Treatment Services will support states, units of local government, and tribes to improve and expand the provision of evidence-based, trauma-informed treatment services for youth with co-occurring substance abuse problems and mental health disorders, including addressing behavioral health impacts and criminogenic needs while in secure confinement and during pre-and post-release.

The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ) will establish a comprehensive treatment program for youth who are in the custody of IDJJ or subsequently under post-release aftercare supervision in the community and identified as having co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders. The program will be delivered to male youth ages 19–25 who are committed to its care as a final disposition in juvenile court. Youth will be included if they have one or more mental health diagnosis and one or more substance abuse diagnosis using the criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition. IDJJ will provide services in two phases: (1) a specialized treatment unit while in secure custody and (2) continuing services upon release in partnership with three community-based providers. IDJJ will track all youth released from facility custody for 3 years to determine recidivism rates based on the youth’s return to IDJJ custody or being placed in Illinois Department of Corrections custody. CA/NCF