Jail administrators whose responses indicated incidents of self-injury, suicide, and litigation by inmates participated in structured interviews that focused on the administrator's decision criteria for mental health services. Data on the relationship between occupancy rates, size, and self-injury suggest that very large, overcrowded jails and very small, underused jails may have higher rates of inmate self-injury. There is no indication that mental health services as indicated in total hours per inmate are associated with frequency of self-injury in the jails surveyed. This may be due to the fact that the typical amount of mental health services per inmate is too small to affect the problem. According to the survey, large, overpopulated jails are sued more often than small jails. Also, jails with high inmate/staff ratios are sued more often. Data obtained from the survey and the interviews indicate that litigation or the fear of it is the catalyst for the improvement of mental health services in jails. 13 references