With nearly 300,000 mentally ill individuals housed within local, state, and federal prison systems, issues of mental health care within the criminal justice system are at the forefront of debate. While steps such as increasing medications and providing at least marginal support for the mentally ill within state institutions are improving the situation, recidivism rates, homelessness, and violence against ill prison inmates is still a major problem in today's society. The product of deinstitutionalization, this problem of warehousing the ill within the criminal justice system must be attended to in order to create an atmosphere of care for the mentally ill. By altering legislation against involuntary assistance, increasing knowledge and awareness through the criminal justice system, and an increase in community care following release, the criminal justice system can create a cost effective solution to the problem of untreated mental illness within the system.

             The Relationship between the Criminal Justice System .

             And Mental Illness.

             The relationship between mental illness and the criminal justice system has been one of intense scrutiny over the past several decades. Issues such as treatment options within state and federal prison systems, behavioral consequences of mental illness, and length of stay issues have all been deliberated intently by the psychiatric and legal community. These studies have indicated that severe problems exist within the system in terms of the care mentally ill individuals receive while incarcerated. This paper will focus on the issues of the mentally ill prison inmate, and will review current literature which suggests that although steps are being taken to solve some of these issues, more work must be undertaken to solve the problem of mental illness within the criminal justice system.

             In the correctional system today, there are nearly 300,000 mentally ill individuals, as compared to only 60,000 currently residing in state psychiatric hospitals (Faust, 2003).