Final answer:
Residential treatment centers or state mental asylums, part of governmental health agencies, are facilities designated for involuntary treatment of mental illnesses, reflecting 19th-century reforms championed by Dorothea Lynde Dix. Total institutions like jails are examples of where individuals may be placed involuntarily, isolated from broader society.
Step-by-step explanation:
The facilities designated by the Department to hold and/or treat persons for mental illnesses on an involuntary basis are typically referred to as residential treatment centers or state mental asylums. These treatment centers are usually a part of governmental agencies like Health and Social Services. This approach to care for the mentally ill has historical roots in the reformative work of Dorothea Lynde Dix in the 19th century, who campaigned for the establishment of state mental asylums after witnessing the deplorable conditions that mentally ill inmates faced in prisons and jails. A significant part of this reform was the recognition of the need for specialized public institutions to treat and care for individuals with mental illnesses, differentiating their needs from those of criminals or the general population.
An example of a total institution where individuals, including those with mental illnesses, may be involuntarily placed is a jail. Total institutions are places where people are isolated from the broader society and compelled to live under a set regime, such as prisons, ships at sea, religious convents, and some cult organizations.