A report by the Criminal Justice/Mental health Consensus Project states that "on any given day, the Los Angles county jail holds more people with mental illness than any state hospital or mental health institution in the United States".  The Project also reports that incarcerated people with mental illness receive little if any treatment for their illness, and that often the conditions of incarceration exacerbate their symptoms, frequently lengthening their jail term. 

Two hundred years ago if you had a mental illness you could be locked up in jail or put to death for what you did.  Two hundred years later in 2007 if you have a mental illness you are more than likely to be locked up in jail or put to death for what you did.  We have not made much progress with mental illness.  Have we?