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Severe mental illnesses should not be referred to as “behavioral health” conditions.

There is great need for access to treatment in carceral settings.

Prevention, diversion, and early intervention are key in keeping our community safe.

On April 23, 2026, the Schizophrenia Policy Action Network is hosting an event called “Navigating the Justice System for Our Community,” which will commemorate the opening of the country’s first-ever National Mental Illness Justice Center.

There has never been a better time to move forward with such an initiative. Two million people with a mental illness are booked into American jails and prisons every year. It is easier to find oneself incarcerated than it is to find a free bed in a psychiatric hospital. Specifically, while the United States had half a million psychiatric beds in the 1940s and 1950s, today we have only 40,000.

Only the very sickest in our community receive care, while those with devastating cases of psychosis are commonly left to deteriorate underneath bridges and on park benches, even in inclement weather, as I did in 2006-2007. I understand this problem well because of the four years of my life I spent homeless, including 13 months living outside in a churchyard.

Unfortunately, even in my deplorable state, psychiatric intervention did not happen until I was more profoundly ill. This psychiatric treatment would save my life. I just wish it had been offered sooner.

The following are important goals of the National Mental Illness Justice Center.

Addressing the Justice System and Behavioral Health Intersection

One of the most misleading aspects of our mental health system in the........

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