SB 286: Courts and Penal Institutions; substance abuse programs and mental health treatment programs in county and municipal jails for inmates; provide

Currently Georgia law does not spell out a process for county and municipal jail inmates to voluntarily enter substance abuse or mental health treatment while in custody through drug or mental health courts. This bill creates that process. It adds new sections to Title 15 requiring drug court divisions and mental health court divisions to create petitions and procedures so inmates and applicants can voluntarily ask to join these programs. If a petition is accepted, the court division orders the person into the program, and completion is judged using existing criteria already in Georgia law for drug and mental health courts. The bill also adds a new section to Title 42 allowing county and municipal jails to establish these substance abuse and mental health treatment programs for inmates referred from drug or mental health courts. Participation by jails is optional. The Georgia Department of Corrections would be required to write rules and minimum standards for any jail that chooses to run such a program.

• Creates a voluntary petition process letting jail inmates and applicants ask a drug court division to enter a substance abuse program.
• Creates a parallel voluntary petition process for mental health court divisions to place people into mental health treatment programs in jails.
• Allows, but does not require, county and municipal jails to establish these substance abuse and mental health treatment programs.
• Requires the Department of Corrections to write rules, regulations, and minimum standards for any jail program that opts in.
• Ties successful completion of these jail-based programs to the existing legal criteria already used for drug court and mental health court completion.

County and municipal jail inmates and applicants seeking substance abuse or mental health treatment, drug court and mental health court divisions that must create the new petition procedures, county and municipal jail administrators deciding whether to opt in, and the Georgia Department of Corrections, which must set the rules and standards.

Jails that choose to participate could offer inmates a formal, voluntary path into treatment overseen by drug or mental health courts instead of leaving that decision informal or unavailable. Because participation is optional for jails, actual access to these programs would vary by county and municipal jail.

• Section 1 adds O.C.G.A. § 15-1-15.1, requiring drug court divisions to create petitions and procedures for voluntary entry into jail substance abuse programs, with completion judged under existing § 15-1-15 criteria.
• Section 1 also adds O.C.G.A. § 15-1-16.1, creating the same voluntary petition process for mental health court divisions, with completion judged under existing § 15-1-16 criteria.
• Section 2 adds O.C.G.A. § 42-4-52, allowing county and municipal jails to establish substance abuse and mental health treatment programs for inmates and applicants referred from drug and mental health courts.
• Section 2 requires the Department of Corrections to promulgate rules, regulations, and minimum standards for jails that opt into these programs.
• Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2025-02-27Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2025-02-26Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Donzella James (D, SD-28)Primary sponsor

• jail reform
• substance abuse treatment
• mental health treatment
• drug courts
• criminal justice