A University of Michigan study last year found that more than 20% of the state’s prisoners had severe mental disabilities — and far more were mentally ill. The same study found that 65% of prisoners with several mental disabilities had received no treatment in the previous 12 months.

The problem is even worse in county jails, where psychiatric treatment is virtually nonexistent. In 1999, a Department of Community Health study — conducted by Wayne State University — of jails in Wayne, Kent and Clinton Counties found that more than half their populations were mentally ill and one-third were seriously afflicted, suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar and other psychotic disorders. If anything, the crisis has worsened since then.

Sometimes, the results are tragic. In 2006, I reported that Timothy Joe Souders, a mentally ill 21-year-old serving one to four years for stealing two paintball guns and threatening a police officer, had died of heat and thirst after spending four days strapped down in a hot isolation cell, naked and soaked in his own urine.

Since 2008, the state has slashed $50million from community mental health agencies, with Wayne County absorbing more than half of the cuts.