Editor 's note : In our Behind the Scenes series , CNN correspondents share their experiences in covering news and analyze the stories behind the events . Here , Soledad O'Brien takes users inside a jail where many of the inmates are mentally ill. An inmate housed on the `` forgotten floor , '' where many mentally ill inmates are housed in Miami before trial . MIAMI , Florida ( CNN ) -- The ninth floor of the Miami-Dade pretrial detention facility is dubbed the `` forgotten floor . '' Here , inmates with the most severe mental illnesses are incarcerated until they 're ready to appear in court . Most often , they face drug charges or charges of assaulting an officer -- charges that Judge Steven Leifman says are usually `` avoidable felonies . '' He says the arrests often result from confrontations with police . Mentally ill people often wo n't do what they 're told when police arrive on the scene -- confrontation seems to exacerbate their illness and they become more paranoid , delusional , and less likely to follow directions , according to Leifman . So , they end up on the ninth floor severely mentally disturbed , but not getting any real help because they 're in jail . We toured the jail with Leifman . He is well known in Miami as an advocate for justice and the mentally ill . Even though we were not exactly welcomed with open arms by the guards , we were given permission to shoot videotape and tour the floor . Go inside the 'forgotten floor ' » . At first , it 's hard to determine where the people are . The prisoners are wearing sleeveless robes . Imagine cutting holes for arms and feet in a heavy wool sleeping bag -- that 's kind of what they look like . They 're designed to keep the mentally ill patients from injuring themselves . That 's also why they have no shoes , laces or mattresses . Leifman says about one-third of all people in Miami-Dade county jails are mentally ill . So , he says , the sheer volume is overwhelming the system , and the result is what we see on the ninth floor . Of course , it is a jail , so it 's not supposed to be warm and comforting , but the lights glare , the cells are tiny and it 's loud . We see two , sometimes three men -- sometimes in the robes , sometimes naked , lying or sitting in their cells . `` I am the son of the president . You need to get me out of here ! '' one man shouts at me . He is absolutely serious , convinced that help is on the way -- if only he could reach the White House . Leifman tells me that these prisoner-patients will often circulate through the system , occasionally stabilizing in a mental hospital , only to return to jail to face their charges . It 's brutally unjust , in his mind , and he has become a strong advocate for changing things in Miami . Over a meal later , we talk about how things got this way for mental patients . Leifman says 200 years ago people were considered `` lunatics '' and they were locked up in jails even if they had no charges against them . They were just considered unfit to be in society . Over the years , he says , there was some public outcry , and the mentally ill were moved out of jails and into hospitals . But Leifman says many of these mental hospitals were so horrible they were shut down . Where did the patients go ? Nowhere . The streets . They became , in many cases , the homeless , he says . They never got treatment . Leifman says in 1955 there were more than half a million people in state mental hospitals , and today that number has been reduced 90 percent , and 40,000 to 50,000 people are in mental hospitals . The judge says he 's working to change this . Starting in 2008 , many inmates who would otherwise have been brought to the `` forgotten floor '' will instead be sent to a new mental health facility -- the first step on a journey toward long-term treatment , not just punishment . Leifman says it 's not the complete answer , but it 's a start . Leifman says the best part is that it 's a win-win solution . The patients win , the families are relieved , and the state saves money by simply not cycling these prisoners through again and again . And , for Leifman , justice is served . E-mail to a friend .
Mentally ill inmates in Miami are housed on the `` forgotten floor '' a former jail that was converted into an emergency room and now houses about 100 mentally ill inmates. While CNN tours facility , patient shouts : `` I am the son of the president '' Leifman says the system is unjust and he 's fighting for change .