Miami Mental Health Facility To Open Soon

February 20, 2024

As an experienced Miami-Dade County defense lawyer, we have defended dozens of cases involving clients with mental health issues. The Miami-Dade County Jail is now the largest psychiatric institution in Florida. The jail has as many beds for people with mental illnesses as all state civil and forensic mental health treatment facilities combined. The county spends $636,000 per day which adds up to $232 million per year to house an average daily population of 2,400 individuals with mental illnesses.


The majority of the inmates with mental illnesses are charged with crimes such as possession of illegal substances. While in custody, these inmates do not receive the proper mental health treatment or the necessary medications to function in society, and that's one of the reasons why the criminal justice system becomes a revolving door for these individuals.

In an effort to solve the problem, Miami-Dade County has been working with the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Criminal Mental Health Project and stakeholders from across the community. They've planned and developed a new program including a mental health diversion and treatment facility for individuals with serious mental illnesses involved in the criminal justice system.

The Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery will operate from a fully renovated facility designed to house services that are difficult to access or unavailable elsewhere in the community. The building will include a central receiving center, an integrated crisis stabilization unit and addiction receiving facility, various levels of residential treatment, transitional housing, day treatment, and day activity programs, outpatient behavioral health and primary care, dental and optometry services, vocational rehabilitation and employment services, classrooms and educational spaces, post-treatment housing assistance, a courtroom, and space for legal and social service agencies.


By housing a comprehensive array of services and support in one location, and providing re-entry assistance upon discharge, many of the barriers to navigating community mental health and social services will be eliminated. The services planned for the facility will address critical treatment needs that have gone unmet in the past, reducing the likelihood of recidivism to the justice system, crisis settings, and homelessness in the future.

Only experienced counsel familiar with mental health issues and the criminal justice system are able to effectively represent those individuals who find themselves incarcerated mainly due to mental illness. If you need representation for someone suffering from mental illness and who is caught up in the criminal justice system, give Donet, McMillan, and Trontz, PA, a call (305) 444-0030.