Center is option for offenders with a mental illness

Grappling with a growing mentally ill jail population and a revolving door of low-level offenders, Harris County this week announced its latest effort to keep people out of jail: the Judge Ed Emmett Mental Health Diversion Center.

The 29-bed Midtown location officially opened its doors Monday, marking the start of a program that provides a pre-booking alternative to jail for low-level, nonviolent offenders with mental illnesses. Now, those would-be inmates can avoid jail and criminal charges altogether and get treatment instead.

“It’s important for us in law enforcement to be tough on crime, but I think we can also be compassionate,” said Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. “This facility can evaluate the individual, determine care,

reduce the impact of negative events in their lives and keep them connected to the community to minimize the effects of mental illness.”

The diversion center, which began taking in clients after a soft launch on Sept. 4, already has provided services to 150 people, officials said.

In a county where more than a quarter of jail inmates are on psychiatric medication, the new program aims to get to the root cause of why people are committing crimes and to prevent them from recurring.

“For too long, the Harris County Jail has served as a mental health care provider in our region,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner. “This model must change.”

Some of the roughly 9,000 people in the county lockup have been booked 70 to 80 times for offenses such as trespassing and loitering, showing that the jail is not always the appropriate place for people with mental illnesses, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said.

“The era of ‘nail ‘em and jail ‘em’ just is clearly not working for the mentally ill,” Ogg said. The program will mostly target those charged with Class B misdemeanors.

The center, at 1215 Dennis, is an offshoot of the Harris County Mental Health Jail Diversion pilot program, which was approved by the Texas Legislature in 2013 and started in the jail the following year.

Under that program, severely mentally ill people already behind bars were identified and connected with mental health treatment, counseling, housing and other services.

Though a 2016 report by state Health and Human Services officials found the program improved outcomes, only a small fraction — less than a third — of those eligible chose to participate.

“It took a while to understand how to help these individuals,” state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, who sponsored the bill to start the program, said at the time. “I would say that it’s still a work in progress.”

At the new center, people who are eligible typically will stay for a matter of hours, but can be housed there for days if needed, said sheriff ’s Maj. Mike Lee.

The center is named after the county judge, who long has advocated for the creation of programs to give offenders in county jails the mental health services they need.

“I am humbled beyond belief,” Emmett said. “Thank you for putting my name up there, but I think those families in years to come are going to thank you even more.”

The jail already has worked to offer better options for mentally ill inmates. When Gonzalez took office, he created a Mental Health & Jail Diversion Bureau.

And, in recent years, the jail launched two different programs to help mentally ill inmates stay out of isolation with therapy and social time instead of solitary confinement.

Still, the lockup has struggled with its daunting role as the state’s largest mental health provider. Over the summer, the jail had two inmate suicides in a matter of weeks, one of which drew criticism from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.

The diversion center will help remove the stigma and shame that often is associated with mental illness, Turner said, along with helping to work toward making Harris County a place where people can live their best lives.

“Oftentimes, people just need help,” Turner said. “I am confident that this will be a place of hope and transformation for many.”