HOME | What's New! | Contact Us | Site Map | Sign In
Projects
Mentally Ill Persons in Corrections
:: HOME > What We Are Doing > What We Are Doing > Mentally ill persons increasingly receive care provided by corrections agencies. In 1959, nearly 559,000 mentally ill patients were housed in state mental hospitals (Lamb, 1998). A shift to "deinstitutionalize" mentally ill persons had, by the late 1990s, dropped the number of persons housed in public psychiatric hospitals to approximately 70,000 (CorrectCare, 1999). As a result, mentally ill persons are more likely to live in local communities. Some come into contact with the criminal justice system.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) estimated that 283,800 mentally ill adults were incarcerated in the nations prisons and jails at midyear 1998, and another 547,800 adults with histories of mental illness or treatment were being supervised on probation (Ditton, 1999). Nearly one-third of mentally ill offenders in the study also abused alcohol (a "dual diagnosis"). Growing numbers of mentally ill offenders have strained correctional systems.

Assistance With This Issue



Loading... Loading...
:: USA.gov > U.S. Dept. of Justice > Bureau of Prisons > National Institute of Corrections > .:: Privacy & Disclaimers :: Accessibility ::.