INCARCERATED AND MENTALLY ILL

Prevalence and costs of people with serious mental illness in jails and prisons

About 20% of jail inmates and 15% of state prison inmates have a serious mental illness, or about 356,000 inmates nationally. That’s 10 times more than the number of people with serious mental illness in state hospitals.

50% of previously incarcerated people with serious mental illness are re-arrested and return to prison, often because they have not been able to comply with conditions of probation or parole.

A study of Washington state prisons found mentally ill inmates accounted for 41% of infractions even though they constituted only 19% of the prison population.

They stay in jail longer. In Orange County Jail in Orlando, Fla., the average stay for mentally ill inmates is 51 days versus 26 days for all inmates. At New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex, the average stay for mentally ill inmates is 215 days versus 42 days for all inmates.

They cost more. In Broward County, Fla., it costs $130 a day to house an inmate with mental illness versus $80 for other inmates. In Texas, state prisoners with mental illness cost from $30,000 to $50,000 a year versus $22,000 for the average prisoner.

They’re more likely to be in isolation units. In Wisconsin, a 2010 audit of three state prisons found that 55% to 76% of inmates in isolation units were mentally ill.

Nearly half of all inmate suicides are committed by inmates with serious mental illness. A 2002 study in Washington state found that the prevalence of mental illness among inmates who attempted suicide was 77% versus 15% for all inmates.

The Cook County (Ill.) Sheriff’s Office estimates it could save $49,907 annually per inmate with serious mental illness if it could provide community treatment and a rental subsidy rather than incarcerate the person for petty crimes.