Contact Us
Please call or email David's Hope with any questions or for more information:
Email Address:
[email protected]
David's Hope Line:
602-774-4382
Please call or email David's Hope with any questions or for more information:
Email Address:
[email protected]
David's Hope Line:
602-774-4382
Important Documents
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David's Hope
Open or CloseOct 30, 2010 - David’s Hope Mission/Vision/ Goals
Our non-profit organization David’s Hope was formed in April 2009. Our mission is to bring treatment rather than incarceration to individuals living with a mental illness. Arizona has one of the highest rates of incarceration of the mentally ill in the nation, being second only to the state of Nevada. In Arizona and across the United States, our jails and prisons have become our new asylums.
Our approach to this complex problem will require a multifaceted approach. Due to an extreme shortage of psychiatric treatment beds, many who require treatment are unable to get the help they need. Our goal is to educate the public regarding the urgent need for an increase in the number of psychiatric beds available to provide care for those who are in urgent need of ongoing mental health care.
David’s Hope is a faith based entity which encourages participation of those from all faiths and religious backgrounds. The principle upon which we base our mission is the belief that all men are created equal and that mankind has been created in the image of God. We believe that even though an individual has been convicted of a crime, the public good is served not by treating that man as an animal but by offering him the opportunity to learn, grow, and heal through rehabilitative treatment opportunities.
Our goal is to restore justice to the administration of justice, through fair and reasonable consideration of an individual’s mental condition and /or illness when a crime is committed by that person. We must assure these individuals do not present a threat to the public by committing them, when appropriate, to secure psychiatric hospitalization. In occasions when those individuals who have committed a crime due to uncontrolled or untreated symptoms of a mental illness are committed in a correctional setting, these inmates must be given the opportunity to undergo comprehensive psychiatric treatment.
Our criminal justice system most frequently cuts these mentally ill individuals off from appropriate mental health treatment. Through “forced plea deals” and mandatory minimum sentences, those who have technically violated the law due to their illness, are forced to accept responsibility for “willfully and intentionally” committing infractions of the law. In reality their only offense was to have had their mind fallen prey to the delusions and misperceptions created in their diseased mind by a very real, organic brain disease. We will work to increase the recognition and treatment of mental illness within our criminal justice system. Through education of those living with a mental illness, first responders, public defenders, prosecutors, judges, legislators and the general public; We are committed to bringing mental health treatment rather than incarceration to those afflicted with a mental disease.
For those persons with mental illness already incarcerated, we will advocate for recognition of their mental disease and demand humane and competent mental health treatment. We oppose the use of solitary confinement for all persons with mental illness. The use of this punitive and cruel type of incarceration is psychologically damaging for the sane as well as the sick. We will work to increase and promote the ability of clinicians in our jails and prisons to make accurate assessments of an inmate’s mental condition. This will include the keeping of accurate statistics on the numbers of those being confined and outcomes of treatments for inmates with a diagnosable mental illness. Through education and advocacy, we hope to bring the recognition of mental illness fully into the public arena. Common sense impels us to treat a disease of the brain as equal to the treatment of any organ of the human body and decency demands it.
Written by Mary Lou Brncik Founder David’s Hope www.davidshopeaz.org 602-774-4382 -
Addiction Treatment
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The Spill Over Effect of Untreated Mental Illnesses and Substance Use Disorders on State Budgets
Author: National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare -
Arizona Corrections
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Arizona Counties
Open or CloseMaricopa County
Maricopa County Justice & Mental Health Collaboration Project
Author: ASU Center for Applied Behavioral Health PolicyPima County
Sequential Intercept Model Mapping Report 2016 City of Tuscon and Pima County.
Authors: Abreu, Griffin, GAINS Center and Policy Research AssociatesPinal County
Digital Transformation of Community Supervision Webinar
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DT9JjrGW12mb9NfMbsehVp4iRAso92YM?usp=sharingYavapai CountyYuma County -
Arizona Court Ordered Evaluation and Treatment
Open or Close Court Ordered Evaluation and Treatment Arizona
Author: Dr. Carol Olson, Chair of the Psychiatry Department, Maricopa Integrated Health SystemMaricopa County
Court Ordered Evaluation and Treatment Process and Data Maricopa County
Author Sherrie Phenix, Maricopa Integrated Health Systems Filing a Petition for Court Ordered Evaluation and Treatment - Maricopa County
Author: Maricopa Integrated Health Systems -
Arizona Jails
Open or CloseMaricopa County
Maricopa County Jail Clinical Liaison Contact Info
Author: Correctional Health Services Maricopa County -
Arizona Specialty Courts
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Court Ordered Evaluation and Treatment
Open or Close Civil Commitment and the Mental Health Care Continuum: Historical Trends and Principles for Law and Practice
Authors: Published by SAMHSA 2019 -
Corrections
Open or Close Adults with Behavioral Health Needs under Correctional Supervision: A Shared Framework for Reducing Recidivism and Promoting Recovery
Author: Council of State Governments Justice Center -
Criminal Justice - Mental Health Online Resources
Open or Close Criminal Justice/Mental Health Online Resources - Revised 07/12/2013
Author: Florida's Eleventh Judicial Circuit Criminal Mental Health Project -
Crisis
Open or Close Filing a Petition for Court Ordered Evaluation and Treatment - Maricopa County
Author: Maricopa Integrated Health Systems -
Crisis - Tools for System Change
Open or Close Crisis Now: Transforming services is within our reach
Author: National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention Crisis Services Task Force -
Decisions In Law Enforcement Roundtables
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Disability Resources
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SOAR SSI/SSDI Access, Outreach and Recovery Criminal Justice Webinar ppt
A model for assisting eligible individuals to apply for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) -
Isolation
Open or Close Buried Alive: Solitary Confinement in Arizona's Prisons and Jails
Author: American Friends Service Committee Ending Solitary Confinement: Dangers of Isolation for Vulnerable Populations
Author: Alessandra Soler, ACLU of AZ
Reassessing Solitary Confinement: The Human Rights, Fiscal and Public Safety Consequences
Author: Senate Judiciary Committee USA Cruel Isolation: Amnesty International's Concerns About Conditions in Arizona Maximum Security Prisons
Author: Amnesty International -
Juvenile Justice
Open or Close Defending Childhood - executive summary
Author: Attorney General's National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence Defending Childhood - full report
Author: Attorney General's National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence Re-Directing Justice: The Consequences of Prosecuting Youth as Adults and the Need to Restore Judicial Oversight
Author: Colorado Juvenile Defender Coalition -
Leifman, Steven
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Mental Illness and the Courts
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Police - Mental Health Collaboration
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Re-Entry
Open or Close Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee Weed and Seed Reentry Initiative
Author: U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Arizona Reducing Crime & Generating Savings: Options for Arizona Policymakers
Author: Council of State Governments -
Removing Barriers to Treatment
Open or Close Beyond Beds
Author: National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors and Treatment Advocacy Center More Mentally Ill Persons Are in Jails and Prisons Than Hospitals: A Survey of the States
Author: Treatment Advocacy Center -
Resource Guides Arizona
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Sentencing Reform
Open or Close Rehabilitating Mental Disorder Evidence after Clark v Arizona: of Burdens, Presumptions, and the Right to Raise Reasonable Doubt
Author: Dora W. Klein - Case Western Reserve Law Review -
Sequential Intercept Model
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Stepping Up Initiative
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The Kennedy Forum
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