15% Of Los Angeles Jail Residents Could Be Diverted Into Mental Health Treatment

A review of jailed individuals in Los Angeles County with mental health issues found that about 15% of the 22,000 average daily jail population could be diverted into community-based mental health treatment programs. In total, about 25% of jail inmates (5,544 people) are in the mental health population, which includes any inmate in mental health housing units and/or any inmate taking psychotropic medications. The review determined that 3,300 (61%) of the 5,544 in the mental health population would be appropriate for diversion programs. About 7% (414 inmates) were potentially appropriate for diversion. The remaining . . .