A delayed result of deinstitutionalization has been to plunge a beleaguered mental health system into a correctional system that is in serious need of reform. Mentally ill individuals caught in the "net" of criminalization now find themselves in a doubly precarious situation. Not only have they been unable to receive adequate mental health treatment in the community, but they must also now seek treatment in a correctional system that has become increasingly punitive and unhealthy. Efforts to provide mentally ill offenders with adequate treatment must be fashioned with an understanding of both systems. Recent developments in the criminal justice and correctional systems provide some reason for optimism, and may signal an impending age of progress.
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