Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is expected on Thursday to announce an expansion to a mental health program at the Harris County Jail amid a continued pileup of cases.
. Of the 56 participants, about two-thirds had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
"The JBCR pilot program continues to provide services that reduce wait times and admissions to state-operated facilities for individuals deemed incompetent to stand trial," the report concluded. The jail has struggled with a bloated population since the deluge that accompanied Hurricane Harvey flooded the Harris County courts, resulting in a case backlog that became more backed up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Deaths at the jail have spiked in the years since, with 27 people dying in custody last year alone. Four more have died at the jail in 2023.
Top jail officials have argued that the lockup has effectively become a storehouse for people who have been unable to receive adequate mental healthcare in the free world, and that major systemic change is needed to alleviate conditions inside the jail. "Jails were intended to be a short term stay, and once you get outside the confines of that, it becomes something it was never supposed to be," said Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
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