An exploration of the Miami-Dade Criminal Mental Health Project (CMHP) — a novel approach to solving the mental health crisis that could be a model for America. Shocked by how people with mental illness were treated in Miami-Dade’s jails, Judge Steve Leifman works with a team of dedicated public servants, as well as former adversaries in the criminal justice system, to help people with mental illness navigate from lives of tragedy to possibility. The documentary follows a diverse group of people committed to the common goal of helping people with mental illness who enter through the courthouse doors. The film reveals a humane criminal justice approach to mental illness that is orchestrated from the court outwards into the community. From court dates to group therapy, the film follows Miami’s community-based experiment to solving the mental health crisis, where incarceration becomes the last resort and everyone from the police to prosecutors works together to support the notion that “recovery is possible.”

Production Credits

A production of Found Object, LLC, in association with WETA Washington, D.C. Directed and produced by Gabriel London, and produced and written by Charlie Sadoff. The film is edited by Nick Clark and narrated by Rob Reiner. The Associate Producer is Eddie Del Carmen with music by Tony Morales. Dalton Delan and John F. Wilson are the WETA Executive Producers.