16% of Iowa inmates are mentally ill, study finds

The odds of a seriously mental ill Iowans being in jail or prison compared to in a hospital setting is nearly 3 to 1, according to a report issued by the Treatment Advocacy Center and the National Sheriffs' Association.

The report -- “More Mentally Ill Persons Are in Jails and Prisons Than Hospitals: A Survey of the States” – found that nearly 16 percent of the 12,215 inmates in Iowa prisons June 30, 2005, were seriously mentally ill.

That's consistent with the study's findings that Americans with severe mental illnesses are three times more likely to be in jail or prison than in a psychiatric hospital.

“America's jails and prisons have once again become our mental hospitals,” said James Pavle, executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center, a non-profit dedicated to removing barriers to timely and effective treatment of severe mental illnesses. “With minimal exception, incarceration has replaced hospitalization for thousands of individuals in every single state.”

The odds of a seriously mentally ill individual being imprisoned rather than hospitalized are 3.2 to 1, state data shows. In Iowa, the ratio is 2.6 to 1.

The Iowa Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the study's findings.

The report compares statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Bureau of Justice Statistics collected during 2004 and 2005, respectively. The report also found a very strong correlation between those states that have more mentally ill persons in jails and prisons and those states that are spending less money on mental health services.

Mental health authorities in 11 states spend more than Iowa spends on care and treatment of the mentally ill.

A copy of the full report can be found on the National Sheriffs' Association homepage at

www.sheriffs.org and the Treatment Advocacy Center homepage at

www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org.