Here’s What LA County is Doing—And Not Doing—to Move People With Mental Illness Out of Jail
America’s largest county has launched numerous initiatives to shrink its jail population and divert people with mental illness from jail entirely. Here’s an explainer on what the major initiatives are and what, if any, progress has been made.
LA is Locking Up More Mentally Ill People, Despite Diversion Efforts
In 2015, Los Angeles County created a program to reduce the number of mentally ill people trapped in jail. But since then, the number of people with mental illness incarcerated in LA has instead increased significantly.