research has shown that the routine features of prison can make huge demands on limited coping resources. after prison many ex-convicts with mental illness do not receive adequate treatment for their mental health issues, because health services turn them away. this is caused by restrictive policies or lack of resources for treating the formerly incarcerated individual. in a study focusing on women and adolescent men, those who had health insurance, received mental health services, or had a job were less likely to return to jail. however, very few of the 1,000 individuals in this study received support from mental health services.