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 Cuyahoga County's Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities (MHDD) Court docket, the number of MHDD defendants in jail, and their average number of bed days (or days in housed in the jail). These numbers do not include all inmates who suffer from mental illness or a developmental disability. To be on the MHDD docket, defendants must meet certain diagnostic criteria; specifically, a severe mental illness (SMI) with a psychotic feature diagnosed by a mental health professional.

Data are reported by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department on a quarterly basis.

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 Common Pleas Court