As Bucks County officials opened the newly constructed $19.8 million center for adults in the criminal justice system with serious mental illness and substance use issues, they said the 23,000-square-foot facility is like a missing puzzle piece with an astonishing capability.
Located on the grounds of the former Women’s Community Corrections Center in Doylestown Township, the Diversion, Assessment, Restoration and Treatment (DART) Center is expected to begin accepting residents in the coming months. At full capacity, the DART Center can simultaneously serve up to 28 people.
The newly completed Diversion, Assessment, Restoration and Treatment (DART) Center, as shown here in January 2026, is located on the grounds of the Bucks County Correctional Facility. It is expected to begin accepting residents in the next month.
(Courtesy of Bucks County)
“Right now, there’s a person, maybe more than one, who doesn’t even know that the DART Center exists,” said Dr. Matthew Abraham, Senior Director of Treatment and Program Development for The GEO Group, the organization hired by Bucks to run the program. “They are somewhere hard, in a cell somewhere, trying to get through another day in a world that has told them that they’re too complicated to help. That person is going to find their way here, and when they do, they will walk through a door that says, ‘we see you, you are worth all of this.’”
Added Bucks County Commissioner Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia: “We have wanted to do something about this problem – to get people diverted from the criminal justice system. But one piece of the puzzle was missing. It was this place.”
Through treatment and skill development, the Center will operate with the goals of diverting people from incarceration, reducing days of incarceration, reducing utilization of state institutions and reducing recidivism.
“People with serious mental illness who are incarcerated spend significantly longer time being incarcerated than the general population,” said Donna Duffy Grimm, Administrator of Bucks County Behavioral Health/Development Program. “We’re really hoping to impact those statistics.”
Officials said the residential treatment center for adults at the DART Center houses three distinct tracks: Short-term Assessment and Stabilization; Restoration of Competency Unit and Community Integration.
The total projected cost to build the facility is about $19.8 million, with the county paying for construction with a combination of mostly state and federal funds, and about $1.8 million from the county’s General Fund.
“Today marks an important milestone for Bucks County because we are not simply opening a building, we are opening a pathway to a more compassionate, affective approach to mental health and criminal justice,” said Bernard Griggs, General Services Director.