L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey is trying to solve a very big problem: how to keep mentally ill people out of the county's jails. 

Overcrowded jails and prisons are a big problem, locally and nationally. Lacey estimates that 20 percent of inmates in L.A.'s jails have a severe mental illness.  

She released a report Wednesday which represents more than a year and half of research by her team. 

Southern California Public Radio reporters Rina Palta and Stephanie O'Neill have been digging into it, and they joined the show to talk about what they've found.