People with mental illness are overrepresented in our nation’s jails and prisons. About 2 million times each year, people with mental illness are booked into jails — often for reasons related to the symptoms of their untreated illness.
NAMI believes that people with mental illness deserve help, not handcuffs. We oppose the continued criminalization of mental illness and work to ensure that every person is met with a response that preserves their health, well-being and dignity.
Our work is driven by the stories we hear every day throughout the NAMI Alliance — stories from people with mental illness and family members about their experiences with the criminal justice system. People are met with handcuffs instead of help and treatment. Family members don’t know if their loved ones are receiving needed mental health care while incarcerated. People reenter the community without the tools and support to thrive and be well. These are only a small snapshot of the shared experiences that connect people’s individual stories.
While mental health advocates know this reality, far too many people in the U.S. do not. But people and their stories cannot — and should not — be overlooked anymore.
NAMI’s new campaign, Overlooked: Stories of Mental Illness & the Criminal Justice System, focuses on the people behind the statistics.
This campaign aims to highlight the impact of the criminal justice system on people with mental illness through personal stories from the people who lived this experience.
“What about people that don't have a support system and they leave that jail with an untreated mental illness, having been treated poorly? Because they are behind a locked door nobody listens. I will continue to share my experience. I want to be part of the solution for people with mental illnesses that are incarcerated.”
“People tell me all the time that I ‘don’t look like I've been incarcerated.’ It makes me so mad. What does it mean to look like you’ve been incarcerated?”
This is an often-overlooked reality. We can help our communities understand these experiences, raise awareness of the injustices faced by too many people and advocate for equitable treatment and support rather than discrimination and criminalization.
You have the power to change how our communities understand and address the intersection of mental illness and the criminal justice system. There are four ways you can get involved today:
The NAMI HelpLine is a free, nationwide peer-support service providing information, resource referrals and support to people living with a mental health condition, their family members and caregivers, mental health providers and the public. The NAMI HelpLine is not a hotline, crisis line or suicide prevention line. If you or someone you know is experiencing a crisis, please contact 988.
NAMI HelpLine is available M-F, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. ET. Call 800-950-6264,
text “helpline” to 62640, or chat online. In a crisis, call or text 988 (24/7).
