New Study Documents High Prevalence of Serious Mental Illnesses Among Nation's Jail...

New Study Documents High Prevalence of Serious Mental Illnesses Among Nation's
Jail Populations

WASHINGTON, June 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new study released today of
more than 20,000 men and women entering jail offers the most accurate
accounting in more than two decades of the number of adults with serious
mental illnesses in these facilities.

Using screening instruments to identify individuals entering jails with the
most serious mental illnesses and the greatest need for comprehensive and
continuous treatment, a team of researchers from the nonpartisan Council of
State Governments Justice Center and Policy Research Associates found that
14.5 percent of males and 31 percent of females -- or 16.9 percent overall --
met that criteria.

These estimates are three to six times higher than the general population, and
indicate that as many as 2 million bookings of people with serious mental
illnesses may occur each year. The findings, published today in the journal
Psychiatric Services, underscore the challenges faced by jail administrators
to address the needs of individuals with mental illnesses in the face of
budget cuts and extremely limited resources.

At a Capitol Hill briefing today, Art Wallenstein, Director of the Montgomery
County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation, said, "Jails at the county
and municipal level were never intended to replace the need for a strong
community-based mental health system. Better alternatives exist and they must
be encouraged and supported. Jail is not the answer for addressing mental
illness in this country."

Judge Steven Leifman, Special Advisor on Criminal Justice and Mental Health
for the Supreme Court of Florida, said, "Only through systemwide collaboration
and partnerships can we begin to close the revolving door to the criminal
justice system which, today, results in increased recidivism, devastation to
our families and communities, wasteful government spending, and the shameful
warehousing in jails and prisons of some of the most vulnerable and neglected
members of our communities."

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is leading a
bipartisan coalition of senators in pressing for full funding of the Mentally
Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (MIOTCRA). The law authorizes
federal grants to help state and local governments create or expand mental
health courts; offer treatment and training programs; and teach law
enforcement officers and agents to recognize and react to situations involving
individuals with mental illnesses.

For more information on the study, its authors and its implications, visit
http://www.justicecenter.csg.org/

SOURCE Council of State Governments Justice Center

Martha Plotkin of the Council of State Governments Justice Center,
+1-240-482-8579