A Venn diagram showing some of the ways in which homelessness, mental illness, substance use disorder, and criminalization and incarceration overlap.

Data Source: Prison Policy Initiative, Beyond the Count and Nowhere to Go; Pew Charitable Trusts, More than 1 in 9 People With Co-Occurring Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders are Arrested Annually (2023); Laurence Roy et al., Criminal Behavior and Victimization Among Homeless Individuals with Severe Mental Illness: A Systematic Review. (Graph: Wendy Sawyer, 2023)

This graph originally appeared in Seeking shelter from mass incarceration: Fighting criminalization with Housing First.

Stay Informed

Get the latest updates:


And our other newsletters:







Stay Informed


Get the latest updates:



Share on 𝕏 Donate


Events

  • October 27, 2026:
    On October 27, 2026 at 1:30 p.m. EST, join the Prison Policy Initiative for a webinar focused on making public records requests. We’ll cover the basics of making a request and provide tips and tricks we’ve learned over decades of sending requests to jails, prisons, and other agencies that can make your requests more effective.

    Register here

Not near you?
Invite us to your city, college or organization.