Responding to the rising number of inmates suffering from a severe mental illness, the United States correctional system has increased the number of mental health providers. However, this increase of staff has not been proportionate to the increase in inmates or the increase in mentally ill offenders. Regardless, these mental health professionals are responsible for providing mental health services within correctional facilities. Today, there are a variety of services offered to meet the needs of these mentally ill offenders within correctional facilities (jails and prisons), such as crisis intervention and management, psychotherapy, specialized treatment programs, and psychoeducational programs. Mentally ill offenders' needs are conceptualized on three levels: (1) Level I--basic mental health services available to all; (2) Level 2-- mental health services developed for specific groups of offenders; (3) Level 3-- services which implement psychosocial principles at a systemic level to facilitate inmate adaptive functioning. Even with the development and offering of a wide variety of mental health services, inmates are reluctant to access the services. Mental health professionals, as well as correctional staff need to evaluate current service use and barriers to accessing mental health services in their facilities to improve inmates’ utilization of mental health services. The accessing of these services will result in more manageable inmates and safer correctional environments, for both inmates and staff. 18 Endnotes