Montgomery County, Pennsylvania — a suburban county northwest of Philadelphia — has been among the more active Pennsylvania counties in developing programs that divert people with serious mental illness away from the criminal justice system and into treatment. The Norristown-based county government has invested in a set of interlocking programs that aim to intercept mental health crises before they result in arrest and incarceration at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Eagleville.
Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training
Montgomery County's law enforcement agencies have participated in Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training — a 40-hour curriculum developed at the University of Memphis following the 1987 fatal shooting of a mentally ill man by Memphis Police Department officers. CIT training equips officers with de-escalation skills, knowledge of mental health conditions, awareness of local treatment resources, and strategies for resolving mental health crises through diversion to treatment rather than arrest.
An officer with CIT training who encounters someone in a psychiatric crisis — someone responding erratically due to a manic episode, a schizophrenia-related break, or a suicidal crisis — can approach the encounter as a medical event requiring treatment referral rather than a crime requiring arrest. When CIT works as intended, the outcome is transport to a psychiatric emergency facility rather than booking into the county jail. The jail population drops when CIT is effective; crisis service utilization goes up.
The Co-Responder Model
Montgomery County has also tested a co-responder model in which a licensed mental health clinician is paired with a law enforcement officer for calls that dispatch identifies as mental health-related. The clinician handles the clinical assessment and treatment linkage while the officer provides safety oversight. This model addresses a core limitation of CIT-trained officers — they have received 40 hours of mental health training, but they are not clinicians. A licensed clinical social worker or crisis counselor who is present from the beginning of the encounter can make a more accurate assessment and a more appropriate treatment referral.
Montgomery County Mental Health Court
For people who are already in the criminal justice system because their mental health crisis resulted in arrest, Montgomery County's Mental Health Court provides a specialty docket with treatment-focused alternatives to standard prosecution. Participants are connected to case managers, treatment providers, and medication management — and their court appearances focus on treatment progress rather than criminal adjudication. Successful completion results in reduced or dismissed charges.
Mental Health Court is not a diversion from accountability — participants are required to engage consistently with treatment, meet with case managers, and appear in court regularly. It is a diversion from incarceration as the primary response to behavior that is driven by mental illness rather than predatory intent.
What Families Can Do to Trigger Diversion
If your loved one is in a mental health crisis:
- Calling 911 and specifically requesting a mental health co-responder or CIT officer gives dispatchers information that can route the call to a trained response
- Calling 988 (the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline) connects to crisis services that can dispatch mobile crisis teams in Montgomery County
- If your loved one has already been arrested, ask their defense attorney immediately about Mental Health Court eligibility — referral is most effective at the earliest stages of the case
- Contact Montgomery County Emergency Services (610-279-3220) for mental health crisis resources
Montgomery County Correctional Facility: 60 Eagleville Road, Eagleville (East Norriton Twp.), PA 19403. Phone: (610) 631-6500. Montgomery County Emergency Services: (610) 279-3220. Website: montcopa.org.