The psychiatric program of the Maricopa County jail system was born out of statutory responsibility, economic concerns, and functional necessity. Prior to 1976 county inmates in need of psychiatric evaluation or treatment were sent to the Arizona State Hospital. By early 1980, however, prohibitive costs, the hospital's indifference to legal and correctional concerns, and its provision of less than satisfactory care to mentally ill inmates prompted the county to seek an alternative. The sheriff's office, the county health department, and the court administrator's office cooperated in the development of a licensed treatment facility within the jail system. There are now two licensed psychiatric treatment units in the Maricopa County jails in Phoenix. The Durango Jail psychiatric unit provides inpatient services for both male and female minimum-medium security inmates. The Madison Jail maximum-security facility has an inpatient unit for male patients only. Together, the units have 210 licensed psychiatric beds for court-ordered evaluations and inmate treatment. The county jail system thus has the second largest licensed psychiatric facility in the State, second only to the Arizona State Hospital. This arrangement has resulted in significant cost savings for the county and in excellent care for jail inmates. Jail psychiatric units, however, should not be viewed as the only source of community-based psychiatric services. The community, local government, and the State cannot continue to abrogate their responsibility or delegate their problems to the jail. Sheriffs, jail administrators, and health officials must emphasize the need for combined responsibility for mentally ill offenders. If they do not, jails will continue to assume an even larger role in the care and treatment of this population. 1 reference