America had a movement to "de-institutionalize", that is, to help known mentally ill people adapt and cope with day-to-day life instead of locking them all in asylums. But the funding got cut... so now we have inadequate support and they end up in prisons because there are no asylums. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/12/w...