Mentally ill people are three times more likely to be incarcerated than hospitalized.

On average, a seriously mentally ill person in the USA is three times more likely to be incarcerated than hospitalized, a report concludes today.
In no state was a seriously mentally ill person — someone with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, for example — less likely to be incarcerated than hospitalized, the report by the National Sheriffs' Association and the Treatment Advocacy Center found.

But there were wide variations among states. In North Dakota, a seriously mentally ill person was equally likely to be hospitalized as incarcerated. But in Nevada and Arizona, such a person was nearly 10 times more likely to be jailed than hospitalized.

"We're not trying to say this is a criminal population," says co-author James Pavle, executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center, a non-profit based in Arlington, Va. "All they have to do is step over a line — public urination, a misdemeanor. Then they get in jail, and the whole thing can spin out of control."

The report was based on previously unpublished 2004-2005 data from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Bureau of Justice.

"These people should be getting treatment, not jail time," Pavle says.


Link: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-05-12-Jail12_ST_N.htm