County jail is no place for those with medical needs
The Montgomery County Jail Coalition is made up of local organizations and concerned residents committed to decreasing the number of individuals the county jail.housed
This year, the coalition has monitored with grave concern the ongoing death crisis in the jail. In 2023 so far, seven people have died, a figure greater than any other county in Ohio and equal to the infamous Rikers Island in New York City, a jail that houses ten times as many people as we do in downtown Dayton. These concerns led the coalition to ask Sheriff Rob Streck for a meeting. He responded by inviting a coalition delegation to take a tour of the jail.
On July 12, Sheriff Streck, along with several other jail administrators and Sheriff’s office representatives, took six coalition members on a guided tour of the jail. These members were able to view the intake area, jail health facilities, cells in the old portion of the jail (built in the 1960s), as well as pods holding both male and in female detainees, among other areas. During the tour, coalition members also were able to ask jail administrators and staff questions.
The tour confirmed the view of the coalition that the jail simply is not an appropriate place to house individuals in the midst of a mental health or addiction crisis, such as drug withdrawal. Sheriff’s Office representatives appeared to agree.
Several times, Sheriff’s Office representatives expressed that the jail is not a hospital and is not equipped to provide care commensurate with a hospital. For instance, Sheriff Streck himself stated that the area utilized for housing individuals experiencing a mental health crisis provides too much stimulation for someone in that condition.
Soon after the tour, it was reported that four additional nurses will be hired to conduct medical evaluations of detainees upon their arrival at the jail, rather than EMTs, which may provide improved care but is not sufficient.
Instead, Montgomery County needs to provide more opportunities for deflection and pre-arrest diversion for those suffering from mental health and addiction issues to facilities with services where they can receive adequate care.
There are some encouraging nascent efforts in the county along these lines. A new mental health and addiction crisis center, the Montgomery County Behavioral Health Emergency Services Crisis Receiving Center, is supposed to open this summer at the former St. Elizabeth health facility. The city of Dayton’s new
Mediation Response Unit deploys its teams instead of police to aid people experiencing a mental health crisis. However, the new crisis center is set to open with only 16 chairs, and additional local police departments (including at the county level) need to utilize crisis response teams in order to connect people in need with appropriate resources.
The sheer number of people struggling with severe mental health and addiction issues means we need more facilities outside of the jail and many more beds to provide effective treatment. Furthermore, the need for such alternatives is urgent, as the number of deaths in the jail this year highlights.
An additional and critical ingredient is the role of Naphcare, the for-profit company contracted by Montgomery County to provide health care to detainees in the jail. Naphcare has a notorious record nationwide for deceptive practices, death and negligence, leading to many costly lawsuits and financial settlements, including a local suit in 2018. Naphcare’s contract with the county expires at the end of 2023, and the coalition believes the question of whether or not to renew Naphcare’s contract, given the death crisis this year, demands intense scrutiny.
The tour of the jail reaffirmed the position of the Montgomery County Jail Coalition: No one should have to get arrested to get help, which is why we need to incarcerate far fewer people while building up community-based support services to give our neighbors and our family members a chance at a new beginning.
As a community, working in partnership with law enforcement, judges, public health, commissioners and concerned county residents, we need to continue to support innovative solutions to the profound problems we face.
The jail will never be the answer.