HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Harris County commissioners want proposals brought to them ahead of the next budget cycle to address the jail’s mental health problem.
Harris County’s jail dashboard shows a figure that’s troubling to commissioners. There’s a graph that shows about 75 percent of the inmate population has a mental health indicator.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said that’s leading to tragic situations. Last year, she said 20 people died while in custody.
A statistic Sarah Knight knows too well. “My son was shipped to Louisiana to come back to me in a body bag,” Knight said. “He was supposed to come home alive.”
Knight’s son, Jaleen Anderson, was in jail for drug charges when he was outsourced to Louisiana due to staffing issues in Harris County. Knight said a medical emergency took her son’s life.
Since then, she’s connected with other grieving families. One theme Knight said she hears a lot from them is how mental illness impacted their loved one while in custody.
“They need to be talked to,” Knight explained. “They need professional help. They need to be able to get their medicines distributed to them.”
A message Knight recently brought to commissioners’ court. Recently, commissioners increased funding to hire more detention officers instead of outsourcing inmates.
“That’ll make us have better systems,” Hidalgo explained. “It’ll save the county money. Yes, yes. At the same time, we have to look at the crux of the problem.”
Hidalgo said she wants mental health programs for people before and after they’re arrested. Recently, commissioners asked for proposals to come to them before they approve the next budget this fall.
“We have diversion programs where you’re still arrested, it’s not like they let you free, but you’re being properly treated,” Hidalgo said. “I think that should be massively expanded.”
Knight is happy to see a mental health discussion, but seeing the county’s dashboard showing 75 percent of inmates have a mental health indicator, she worries this fall may be too late.
“Fix this problem,” Knight said. “It doesn’t take rocket science to build the mental facilities that these people need.”
Recently, the sheriff’s office told the Texas Commission on Jail Standards it’s turning a floor in the jail into a health unit. A spokesperson told us they’re working with Harris Health on the plans.
They said this will likely be used to help inmates with medical issues, not necessarily mental health. Hidalgo said this is part of the solution, but she says more has to be done because she believes these people shouldn’t be there in the first place.
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