Helping the Mentally ill in Jails Adjust to Community Life: a Description of a Postrelease ACT Program and its Clients

The authors discuss the criminalization & incarceration of persons with serious mental illness (PSMIs) in U.S. jails, describe the use of jails as mental hospitals, the prevalence of PSMIs in jails, & the core principles of services for incarcerated PSMIs. They note the high rate of suicide attempts among incarcerated PSMIs, along with the lack of aftercare services, & they promote Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) as an effective model for reducing arrests & hospitalizations among this population. They also describe Threshold’s ACT Demonstration Project in Chicago & present case studies of project participants. (46 refs)