Let’s stop treating mental illness like it’s a crime in Texas

Here are two unfortunate things we know: 1. Jails and prisons are where too many people with mental illness are receiving, or rather not receiving, treatment. 2. A jail cell is unlikely to be a place of healing.

Here’s one more thing we’re starting to realize: There’s a better way.

Not only are some of our most vulnerable Texans better served if they can be diverted from jails, the state’s bottom line will benefit as well.

It’s less expensive, more efficient and more humane to treat mental illness like it’s not a crime.

In Texas, as in the rest of the nation, our communities don’t have the capacity to meet the demand for mental health services for all those in need, leaving jails and prisons to serve as de facto asylums.

This leads to a vicious cycle in which people with mental illness are re-traumatized, released and then re-incarcerated.

Tarrant County MHMR reports that, of 4,316 individuals arrested in Tarrant County in 2014 for misdemeanor offenses, 1,399 were identified as having a mental health disorder.

Over three years, these individuals averaged 4.45 arrests. At an average incarceration period of 105 days, it cost the county almost $7,000 per inmate.

This is bad math from almost every direction.

Community-based professionals and institutions whose priority is mental health are better equipped to provide care than institutions that exist primarily to incarcerate.

Imprisonment can compound the trauma that many people with mental illness have suffered.

It’s more expensive to imprison someone than to treat that person.

And it distracts from the core mission of law enforcement and correctional officers when they’re asked to act as social service providers of last resort. They are not trained or funded to properly provide the care needed.

Without question, some people with mental illness need to be incarcerated. But for low-level nonviolent offenders, we should look to measures that can divert people from jails and into community-based mental health treatment programs.

A process of diversion can happen at every point along the criminal justice continuum — from the moment the 911 call is placed all the way to re-entry into the community after incarceration.

What’s required are common-sense reforms such as targeted training for police and 911 dispatchers, screening for behavioral health conditions at the early stages of the process and improved coordination between the justice system and social service agencies in advance of re-entry.

The Legislature approved up to $1 million in funding last session for two pilot sites in Texas. Scaling of such a program, if the pilots prove successful, could make an enormous difference.

The evidence base for diversion programs has matured to the point where we can have confidence that the money will be well spent.

Law enforcement officials across the country are coming together in support of such measures.

And advocates, experts and policymakers are recognizing that systemic change is needed for systemic problems. It’s time for more Texas lawmakers to get on board.

The current problems of our mental health system create fertile conditions for the kind of creative problem-solving and collaboration that can make “jail diversion” more than a trendy phrase.

We all know the way we’ve been doing things isn’t working, and we’re beginning to realize there’s a better way.

This story was originally published January 20, 2016 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Let’s stop treating mental illness like it’s a crime in Texas."