The Brief Jail Mental Health Screen (BJMHS) enables jail staff to screen people who are being admitted to a prison or jail potential serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression. It is made up of eight yes or no questions.. BJMHS has been validated in jail settings. It can correctly classify almost three out of four of males being admitted to prisons or jails, but significantly underestimates mental illness in women and does not screen for co-occurring disorders. The screening is used to identify the need for further mental health assessment. In settings (such as jails) where individuals are incarcerated for short periods of time, the screening can be used to identify the need for referrals to community-based mental health services. The test requires about three minutes to complete.

The Correctional Assessment and Intervention System™ (or CAIS, used for adults) and the Juvenile Assessment and Intervention System™ (JAIS) were designed to provide criminal justice personnel with integrated assessment tools which identify evidence-based supervision strategies that emphasize public safety, rehabilitation, accountability, and criminogenic needs. CAIS™ and JAIS™ employ a single semi-structured interview to derive assessments of risk, strengths, and needs. The results of the interview are scored by an automated response system which produces an individualized case plan including risk, needs, and supervision strategy classifications, as well as recommendations for evidence-based programs and services. CAIS and JAIS include periodic reassessment components to automatically update individual case plans on a continuous basis. A reporting package provides real-time aggregate data reports for client monitoring, agency management and budgeting, and outcome measurement. The web-based system requires no agency investment in hardware or software, MIS redesign, or maintenance. Validity and reliability have been successfully demonstrated through multiple studies. CAIS and JAIS incorporate gender-responsive assessments and interventions to address the unique risk and needs areas of girls and women. Comprehensive training and technical assistance packages are offered.

The Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions (COMPAS) system is a statistically based risk and needs assessment specifically designed to assess key risk and needs factors in adult and youth correctional populations and to provide decision-support for justice professionals who must make decisions regarding the placement, supervision, and case-management of individuals in community supervision and correctional institution settings. It achieves this by providing valid measurement and succinct organization of research supported risk/need dimensions. COMPAS scores each individual based on three different types of risk (violence, recidivism, and failure to appear in court) and 19 different criminogenic needs. The software also includes case planning, outcomes measurement, and reports generation modules. The internal Research Division (staffed by five PhDs) and IT Division provide the research and technical support to norm the assessment for the local population and configure the software to local policy and procedure. The time required to administer each battery of tests varies, and can be adapted to the needs of the jurisdiction. A peer reviewed validation study of the COMPAS has been accepted by Criminal Justice and Behavior for publication in the June 2009 edition. An additional independent validation of the COMPAS in a California study by Zhang and Farabee (2007) indicated predictive accuracies comparable to other major instruments.

The Diagnostic Interview Schedule IV (DIS-IV) is a structured interview for a psychiatric diagnosis according to DSM-IV criteria. DIS-IV assesses a lifetime history of symptoms and conditions, from childhood to the present. This instrument may be used by corrections staff to identify the mental health needs of incarcerated individuals and refer them to appropriate treatment programs. Since it covers all necessary symptoms, it is self-contained and does not require a follow-up examination to make diagnoses. Its validity has been established with diagnoses of mania, psychosis, and posttraumatic stress, but has been found to overestimate depression among homeless individuals. It has also been validated with jail populations. The interview takes between 60-90 minutes to complete and can be administered by trained corrections personnel. Spanish and English versions are available.

The Rikers Island Discharge Enhancement (RIDE) is a discharge planning program that uses a one page questionnaire (Form 983) at the time of intake to ascertain an individual’s housing and social service needs in preparation for release from jail. The housing section includes questions about past housing situations, homelessness, and the need for housing assistance upon release. Other sections assess the need for employment, healthcare, identification, transportation, substance abuse treatment, etc. The questionnaire includes a section that jail staff can use to make service referrals.

The Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) is an assessment tool that rates the social, occupational and psychological functioning of adults. It can be used by corrections officers to obtain information about an individual’s functioning in order to provide an appropriate mental health treatment. Its validity has been established in community mental health settings. The GAF must be administered by a trained clinician, and takes approximately 3 minutes to complete.

The Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN) is a series of instruments that includes a screening, a standardized biopsychosocial intake assessment, and a follow-up assessment. The instruments are designed to measure the recency, breadth, and frequency of problems and service utilization related to substance use, physical health, risk/protective involvement, mental health, environment, and vocational situation. Corrections staff can use results to identify co-occurring disorders and predict treatment outcomes. Instruments and manuals for training staff to administer and interpret them can be accessed online. GAIN instruments have been validated for use with criminal-justice involved adolescents who are receiving substance abuse treatment for marijuana use, and for use with adults under criminal justice supervision. Adolescent and adult versions are available in English and Spanish. The time that each instrument takes to administer varies, ranging from 3 minutes for screenings, to 60 minutes for assessments.

The Level of Care Utilization System (LOCUS) for Psychiatric and Addiction Services is a dynamic tool that assesses immediate care needs and monitors changes in level of care recommendations. The tool includes six evaluation parameters: risk of harm; functional status; medical, addictive, and psychiatric co-morbidity; recovery environment; treatment and recovery history; and engagement. LOCUS provides a structured process for assessing immediate service needs, organizing clinical and bio-psychosocial information, determining in a standardized manner the level of care needed during incarceration, and monitoring progress over time. The tool includes a level of care determination grid and decision-making tree. The tool’s developers report encouraging preliminary reliability and validity data. LOCUS requires a trained clinician to administer.

The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) is a screening tool that can identify individuals in need of further mental health assessment. It is a short structured diagnostic interview that consists of 120 questions that screen for 17 psychiatric disorders for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) and International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). The MINI has been validated against longer mental health assessments of DSM-IV criteria, and is available in 43 languages. It has been used to study mental health issues in jails, does not help clinicians or corrections personnel clarify if symptoms are due to substance use rather than to major mental illness. It takes 10-15 minutes to complete.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) is a broad-based test designed to assess a number of major patterns of personality, emotional, and behavioral disorders. It consists of 567 true/false statements and includes internal checks for validity. MMPI-2 has been found to accurately assess clinical condition, screen for substance abuse, and predict adjustment to correctional settings. In a study of its validity in a prison setting, the test was slightly less likely to have produced valid profiles in women and African-Americans; but produced valid profiles in 79% of cases overall. The test not an effective assessment with adults convicted of sex offenses. It is available in English, Spanish, French (Canadian) and Hmong. It takes 60-90 minutes to complete.

The Novaco Anger Scale and Provocation Inventory (NAS-PI) assesses cognitive, physiological, and situational contributors to anger. The NAS-PI is used to assess anger reactivity, anger suppression, and change in anger disposition It is composed of two parts: The Novaco Anger Scale (60 items), which assesses how an individual experiences anger; and the Provocation Inventory (25 items), which identifies the kind of situations that induce anger in particular individuals. The NAS-PI can be administered as a whole, or the two parts can be used independently. A study of the NAS with people who were incarcerated for violent offenses found that its scores were not correlated with prior convictions, institutional misconduct, or postrelease performance. This tool is in the form of a self-reporting questionnaire, and takes 25 minutes to complete.

The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) is an assessment tool used to measure mental health problems, substance abuse disorders, and motivation for treatment, among other factors. The PAI provides information to assist screening, diagnosis, and treatment. PAI contains 344 items comprising of 22 nonoverlapping scales that assess different factors, including clinical symptoms, treatment needs, and interpersonal dynamics. Research has tested the validity of various subscales in criminal justice settings, with mixed results. Among women who are incarcerated, the antisocial features scale (ANT) and aggression (AGG) scales have been shown to predict recidivism. The validity of the substance abuse scales has been weak, in part due to the likelihood of people under criminal justice supervision to underreport their substance abuse. The PAI is self-administered and requires a Grade 4 reading level. It takes 50-60 minutes to complete.

The Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R) is a 20-item, interview-based instrument that measures psychopathic attributes in individuals. Clinicians score each item on a scale of 0 (not present) to 2 (definitely present). The instrument measures two major factors that are correlated with psychopathy: a disregard for the feelings and rights of others, and the presence of persistent antisocial behavior. The instrument has been validated with adult males in institutional and community corrections settings, and its reliability has been established with women who are incarcerated. The instrument’s developer strongly cautions that, because the label of psychopathy can have lasting effects in an individual’s life, the PCL-R should only be used by trained mental health clinicians and with populations with which the instrument has been validated. The PCL-R takes 1-2 hours to complete and score.

The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR (SCID) is a semi-structured interview that allows an experienced mental health clinician to tailor questions to fit the patient’s understanding of his or her symptoms; to ask clarifying questions; to challenge inconsistencies; and to make clinical judgments about the seriousness of symptoms. It assesses 33 of the more commonly occurring psychiatric disorders described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fourth Edition (DSM-IV). The SCID requires a licensed mental health professional to administer and takes 90 minutes to complete.

The Traumatic Antecedents Questionnaire (TAQ) is a self-administered tool that assesses the type and frequency of traumatic events experienced across an individual’s lifespan. The TAQ asks for the frequency (never, rarely, commonly) of experiences assigned to 11 domains ranging from positive experiences to negative experiences such as neglect and physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Each type of experience is separately assessed for four developmental periods: early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. This tool can be used to assess the need for trauma-centered programming, where it is available in corrections settings.

The Traumatic Symptom Inventory (TSI) is a 100-item screening tool to evaluate various forms of posttraumatic distress and symptomatology, including the effects of rape, domestic violence, physical assault, natural disasters, and childhood abuse. The TSI assesses a wide range of psychological impacts, including symptoms typically associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and intra-and interpersonal difficulties associated with chronic trauma. The tool requires approximately 20 minutes to complete, and may be administered by corrections staff. This tool can be used to assess the need for trauma-centered programming, where it is available in corrections settings.

The Violent Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG) is a tool used with people with mental illness who have been convicted of violent offenses to predict the risk of violence within a specific time frame following release. It uses the clinical record, particularly the psycho-social history component, as the basis for scoring as opposed to an interview or questionnaire. VRAG was initially developed to assess recidivism among people with mental illness, and considers 12 items including personality disorder, schizophrenia, age, marital status, and criminal record. In a comparative study with five other risk assessment instruments, the VRAG was found to predict general, violent, and sexual recidivism.