Every year, an estimated 2 million people diagnosed with mental illness are jailed in the U.S., and soon after they’re released, many wind up behind bars again. But specialized supervision on probation for people with mental illness can radically reduce the odds they’ll be re-arrested within five years, a new study suggests.
The odds of probationers being arrested after two years were 2.68 times higher for those on traditional probation than for those on specialty probation.