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'Harris County jail not the place to treat mental illness'

An joint op ed from the Harris County Sheriff and the Houston Police Chief with the same title as this post reminds us that the Harris County Jail, by a wide margin, is the state's single largest mental health services provider. They fear that cuts by the Legislature to mental health services will further shift costs to Harris County (and by extension, all counties), citing a similar outcome after budget cuts in 2003:A prime example of cost shifting has occurred within the Harris County Jail, now the largest mental health facility in Texas. The Harris County Jail treats more individuals with mental health issues on a daily basis than our state's 10 psychiatric hospitals combined. This is especially worrisome given that the United States Department of Justice reports that it costs 60 percent more to incarcerate inmates with serious mental illnesses than it costs to house typical inmates...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on January 02, 2011 (boomark / email).