Mental Health Diagnostic and Treatment Services in Florida’s Jails

Abstract

Each year, U.S. jails admit over 280,000 mentally ill people. These inmates often pose a tremendous challenge and concern for jail administrators. This article reports the results of a survey of jail mental health diagnostic and treatment services within each of Florida’s 67 counties. Approximately 93% reported having some type of screening for mental illness and some form of suicide prevention, and large jails tended to have more mental health services than smaller jails. Although most facilities had access to in-house or contracted beds for inmates requiring inpatient psychiatric treatment, less than half had access to counseling services for inmates. Representatives from Florida jails, regardless of size, tend to perceive that inmates with mental illness pose a moderately large operational problem for their facility, and view their own provision of mental health services as somewhat moderately effective. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.