Chief to host Criminal Justice Mental Health Summit.

The Miami-Dade County Jail has become one of Florida's largest mental health treatment facilities. State agencies have been unable to comply with laws requiring that mentally ill inmates be transferred from jails for treatment. The Department of Children and Families reports that up to 23 percent of Florida county jail inmates experience serious mental illness.

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In response, Florida Chief Justice Fred Lewis will hold a Criminal Justice Mental Health Summit this fall using grant funding awarded in April by the Council of State Governments Justice Center in New York. The summit will bring together key leaders in all branches of government to begin finding solutions and will include Lewis taking part in a national summit.

"The increasing numbers of people with mental illness appearing in criminal courts and the frequency with which these people cycle through our prisons and jails have become a crisis for Florida," Chief Justice Lewis said. "Florida's selection in this national initiative is a very important and positive development."

Florida was one of only seven states chosen by the Justice Center, which was created in part to address the ways states handle mentally ill inmates. The national initiative has three components:

* The seven participating states met recently at a national summit in Atlanta at the Westin Peachtree Plaza and the Carter Center to discuss policy approaches to the problem.

* Florida will receive up to $12,000 in grant funding to pay expenses for the statewide summit to be held later this fall. Details of that summit will be released later.

* Florida will receive continuing technical support from the Justice Center in the years ahead along with direct access to national experts in mental health issues.

Florida was accepted into the Justice...