Incarcerated: Hundreds who need mental-healthcare forced into ACI

An absence of strong statewide leadership and a fragmented, underfunded public mental-health system have resulted in hundreds of people with mental illness being imprisoned at the Adult Correctional Institutions. Many have been arrested only for petty crimes such as shoplifting and trespassing. Some worsen psychiatrically or lose needed benefits behind bars, creating a cascade of new problems when they are released, as nearly all inmates eventually are. Much of this could be avoided. Better community care of people diagnosed with serious mental illness could prevent many imprisonments and reduce recidivism — and society at large, not just individuals, would benefit, advocates assert.