Policy on Mentally Ill Hit

The decentralization of mental hospitals has left as many as 50,000 victims of chronic mental illness on California’s streets or in jail, a legislative committee reported. The mentally ill are often denied food, shelter and clothing because communities have no services for them, researchers for the Assembly Select Committee on Mental Health reported. The report recommended assigning case managers to keep track of released patients, monitor their medication and help them to enroll in appropriate programs.