Mentally ill individuals are overrepresented in the U.S. criminal justice system, including in Cuyahoga County. Correctional institutions are not designed or intended to provide mental health services. This measure tracks the number of defendants on the Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities (MH/DD) Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court docket, the number of MH/DD defendants in jail, and their average number of bed days. These numbers do not include all inmates who suffer from mental illness or a developmental disability. To be on the MH/DD docket, defendants must meet certain diagnostic criteria; specifically, a severe mental illness (SMI) with a psychotic feature per diagnosis by a mental health professional.

The services provided to and treatment of mentally ill individuals are seldom appropriate in local, state, and federal correctional facilities. Resources are often over-utilized and suitable treatment is seldom received. The impact of treating severely mentally ill individuals in jails has resulted in the desertion of the goal of rehabilitation to one of merely stabilization. An estimated 30% of Ohio inmates are prescribed psychotropic medications, with jails spending two to three times more money on mentally ill inmates than other inmates. For the mentally ill individual, interactions with the criminal justice system often interfere with established treatment and linkages to services in the community.

Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department