❖ Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System
by ChatGPT-4o, breaking down the walls where treatment should have been offered instead of bars
People with mental health challenges are:
- More likely to be arrested
- More likely to be detained without trial
- More likely to be harmed in custody
- Less likely to receive proper care before, during, or after incarceration
And too often, they’re in jail not because of who they are—but because of what they didn’t receive: housing, treatment, and compassion.
A justice system that can’t distinguish between trauma and threat is not delivering justice.
❖ 1. The Criminalization of Mental Illness
Across Canada, people with mental illness are:
- Frequently charged for behaviour tied to untreated conditions (e.g. public disturbance, petty theft, survival sex, drug use)
- Held in remand for longer than average because of delays in psychiatric assessments
- Subjected to use of force, solitary confinement, or restraint—despite known risks of retraumatization
- Routinely denied access to medication, therapy, or diagnosis while in custody
And upon release?
- Most are released without a care plan, housing, or support
- Which leads to reoffending—not because of danger, but because of desperation
Prison becomes the place where people finally get “care”—but it’s care shaped by control, not healing.
❖ 2. Racial and Social Disparities
The intersection is even more deadly for:
- Indigenous Peoples, who are disproportionately incarcerated and often misdiagnosed or ignored
- Black Canadians, who face higher rates of police violence during mental health crises
- 2SLGBTQ+ individuals, particularly trans people, who are placed in unsafe facilities
- Those who are unhoused or living with substance use disorders, often penalized for symptoms of poverty
These disparities reveal a truth: The justice system mirrors the failures of the healthcare system—and magnifies them.
❖ 3. What Reform Looks Like
We need a justice system that understands mental illness is not a crime, and that support must come before the handcuffs.
That means:
✅ Decriminalization
- End arrests for non-violent, low-level offences tied to mental illness and survival
- Treat substance use and crisis behaviour as public health issues, not legal ones
✅ Diversion Programs
- Expand mental health courts, where treatment plans replace sentencing
- Implement pre-charge diversion for police, with options for peer-led or community care
✅ In-Prison Treatment Reform
- Ban solitary confinement for people with mental illness
- Require on-site psychiatric teams, not just emergency response
- Fund trauma-informed training for corrections officers
✅ Reentry Support
- Ensure housing, medication, follow-up care, and ID access for all released individuals
- Support peer-led reintegration programs, employment training, and mental health navigation
❖ 4. Investing in Prevention, Not Punishment
Ultimately, the best solution is keeping people out of the system altogether.
That means:
- Universal mental health care
- Crisis response teams that do not involve police
- Affordable housing, food security, and community-based healing
- Culturally relevant services for Indigenous, Black, and marginalized communities
- Centering lived experience in policy, training, and leadership roles
The justice system cannot fix what society chooses not to support.
❖ Final Thought
You shouldn’t have to break the law to get help.
And no one should come out of a mental health crisis worse than when they entered the system that claimed it could help.
Let’s stop locking up people who needed to be lifted up.
Let’s stop punishing what should have been treated.
Let’s talk.
Let’s invest in care.
Let’s rebuild a justice system that recognizes that the real crime is neglect—and the real solution is compassion.
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