Comment by bobthepanda

The problem is to stop spending money we need to spend some money to set up something like a mental institution.

Prison, which was being used for that purpose, costs California $127k a year https://www.lao.ca.gov/policyareas/cj/6_cj_inmatecost

Just the bed at a Californian state hospital for mental health treatment costs at minimum $150k+ a year. https://www.dsh.ca.gov/Hospitals/

And both systems are already overcapacity