One in three women arrested has a mental illness, new study says

From The Herald-Tribune:

A new study published June 1 found 31 percent of women enter jail with serious mental illnesses, making them more than twice as likely to need treatment as men.

The Council of State Governments Justice Center and Policy Research Associates studied 20,000 people entering jails and found that 17 percent of them had a serious mental illness. That is up to six times higher than the general population.

"While there are people with mental illnesses that need to be incarcerated, the findings confirm that more needs to be done to address the large numbers of men and women who would be more effectively treated in the community to stop the cycle of contact with the criminal justice system," the justice center said.