Models of mental health service delivery for persons associated with jails include: emergency services through local hospitals or mental health centers which are usually experienced with dissatisfaction by both hospital and jail personnel; counseling and psychotherapy programs offered within jails by mental health centers on a part-time basis; therapeutic communities within jails for both pretrial and posttrial inmates serving long periods of time; referral and classification centers which offer brief crisis-oriented treatment, and suicide prevention programs. Jail personnel are involved in mental health services in two ways: as service recipients working under moderate to severe stress, and as service providers to inmates. Mental disorder prevention strategies include using single-cell housing, eliminating stress, removing obnoxious environmental stimuli, and preventing the jail incarceration of emotionally disturbed individuals. Areas for research include followup studies of jail inmates, investigations of parameters and behavior changes in jail officers, mental health research - demonstration units within jails, violence and suicide research, and research into the prevention of mental disorders in jails. (Author abstract modified)