The costs of incarcerating the mentally ill are huge. The Justice Department estimates that it costs at least $150 billion a year to house inmates with psychiatric disorders (about $100,000 per inmate per year).

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The specific figures provided ($150 billion a year and about $100,000 per inmate per year) are not directly sourced from a Justice Department estimate. Costs of incarcerating individuals with mental illnesses are indeed significant, but the exact figures can vary widely depending on the source, the year, and the methodology used for calculation.

The Costs of Incarcerating the Mentally Ill Are Huge