Analyzing the Relationship between Mental Health Courts and the Prison Industrial Complex

Mental health courts (MHCs) were designed to address the high rates of incarcerated individuals with serious mental illness in the United States by providing mental health treatment and social supports to those facing criminal charges. In the setting of national uprisings and grassroots demands for abolition of the prison industrial complex (PIC), which is the broad construct of economic and sociopolitical drivers of imprisonment, we draw upon the scholarship of community activists to examine the role of MHCs within the PIC. Specifically, we explore whether MHCs exacerbate harms caused by the criminal justice system or work to reduce its oppressive power. In this analysis, we argue that MHCs can perpetuate harmful assumptions about mental illness and crime, can legitimize the harsh punishment of individuals unfairly deemed undeserving of policy intervention, and can preserve power differentials between courts and court participants. Our analysis underscores the need for a critical reassessment of the role of MHCs in communities and in the PIC. We advocate for an open discussion between community members and advocates, policymakers, and health professionals about how to address the need for mental health treatment and social support without expanding and entrenching the power of the PIC.