The overview of mentally ill inmates covers the number, the length of stay, charge, competency, and disposition. The community context of the incarceration of mentally ill persons is the increasing numbers of chronically mentally ill people living without necessary support services. Specific problems identified are the arrest of mentally ill persons because they lack protection and treatment, the incapacity of existing diversion programs to provide the services needed, and the limitation of mental health screening to normal correctional working hours. Other problems are the commitment law's stringent interpretation, the additional demands mentally ill detainees place on corrections officers, the aggravation of mental illness by jail overcrowding, inadequate psychiatric services, delays in transporting mentally ill inmates to State mental institutions, and the management of the seriously acting out mentally ill inmate. Various options for addressing each of the aforementioned problems are outlined in the article, and model programs for the diversion of mentally ill persons from incarceration are described.