The Mentally Ill: How They Became Enmeshed in the Criminal Justice System and How We Might Get Them Out

1. Background

That individuals with mental illness are over-represented in the criminal justice system is a reality beyond debate. The percentage of individuals in federal correctional institutes with self-reported mental health issues has more than doubled between 1997 and 2008. At the time of admission 65% of federal inmates were flagged for mental health follow-up. A recent one day “snapshot” indicated that 63% of female federal inmates are prescribed psychotropic medication. From across the border, at present there are five times as many mentally ill individuals in American jails and prisons as there are in American hospitals. And, while comparable statistics are not readily available for Canada there is no reason to expect that we are doing much better.

How did we end up in this state of transinstitutionalizationFootnote 1? Certainly, not by design.