For every 100 inmates in our nation's prisons, 16 have a mental illness. Prisons aren't meant to be psychiatric wards, but many strain to be that and more, offering counseling and medical treatment to inmates. They don't do it well.

Legislation proposed by Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, and Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Ohio, would provide federal grants to improve the way we handle the mentally ill within the justice system. They would reward state and local governments that come up with creative ways to treat mentally ill offenders, including through new mental health courts, and post-incarceration programs to ensure continuing treatment once mentally ill prisoners are released.

Failure to adequately treat mentally ill inmates, or to see that they can continue treatment once released, only increases their threat to society when they get out of prison. The proposals from DeWine and Strickland deserve prompt consideration in Congress.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, two-thirds of all state inmates who were in therapy or receiving medications were in facilities that did not specialize in treating the mentally ill.

In a 215-page report on the nation's prisons, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch in October said prison staff "often punish mentally ill offenders for symptoms of their illness - such as being noisy or refusing orders, or even self-mutilation and attempted suicide. Mentally ill prisoners are more likely than others to end up housed in especially harsh conditions, such as isolation, that can push them over the edge into acute psychosis."

Just as troubling are statistics from the Office of Juvenile Delinquency Prevention, which says 20 percent of youth in the juvenile justice system have serious mental problems, and a significant number have mental health and substance abuse disorders. Often, they are the ones who end up populating adult prisons.

DeWine's bill passed in October and is awaiting House action. A companion House bill by Strickland, a former prison psychologist, is now in a House subcommittee. They would provide $200 million in grant money for 2004 and 2005, and more as needed for 2006 through 2008. State and local governments could apply for as much as $75,000 to plan a program. A second grant with money for up to five years could be issued to implement a program with a goal of self-sufficiency.

To be grant-eligible, state and local governments must collaborate with a criminal justice agency or a juvenile justice agency and a mental health agency. Their work could concentrate on courts, corrections or community-correction-based initiatives.

"Over the last 30 years in dealing with the mentally ill we have just thrown our hands up," said Robert Steinbuch, a DeWine aide, and a former auxiliary police officer. But programs that could be created from these grants would inevitably reduce criminal justice costs associated with treating those with mental illnesses.