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How Many Incarcerated Individuals Received Psychotropic Medication in California Jails: 2012­-2017 (2018)

This policy brief uses data from the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) to estimate the number of jail inmates who receive psychotropic medication and assess the relative representation of this group among the jail population. To provide a measure of the prevalence of mental illness in jail, we reviewed data from 45 counties that completed the BSCC Jail Profile Survey from March 2012 to February 2017. We used the receipt of psychotropic medications as an indicator of serious mental illness.