Allegheny County Mental Health Court Project

September 3, 2004 Allegheny County Mental Health Court Project For too many Americans with mental illness, a brush with criminal justice system and time in jail is a very real and frightening prospect. The sheer number of inmates with mental illness incarcerated in the United States is staggering by any historical comparison. In 1880, only .7 percent of jail and prison inmates were mentally ill. By 1999, the number had risen to more than 267,000 inmates - nearly 16 percent of America's jail and prison population, according to the U.S. Department of Justice . . .