Criminal Reform: Mentally Ill Inmates

I recently read an article at The Texas Tribune, which identified prisons with the most mentally ill patients as also being the most violent prisons, reaching proportions as high as 43 incident reports for every 100 patients.  Amongst these incidents, which involved sexual assault, assault with a weapon, and the "lobbing" of bodily fluids, the State has placed the care and control of these mentally ill inmates over to the wardens and security officers posted at each prison.  Although some people believe that the criminal reform designated towards the demographic of prisoners who are mentally ill is ineffective, the wardens urge that the methods by which they control their populations is effective and is helping to serve the purpose of reforming such prisoners.  The task of maintaining order amongst a population of inmates (nearly half of whom suffer from mental illnesses) may seem an insurmountable one, and the efforts from the wardens and security officers valiant, however the numbers don't lie.  For example, at the William P. Clements Unit, officers over a six year period reported having to use force on mentally ill inmates roughly 3,400 times.  The population of 3,500 inmates at Clements houses 1,800 inmates who have been diagnosed as mentally ill.  So the question remains.  Are the Criminal reform policies truly working, or is it time for a change in Government Policy which will approach theses mentally ill inmates in a different way?