HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — Harris County is expanding a jail mental health program designed to get inmates ready to stand trial.
Many inmates can wait months, even years, in jail for a spot at a state psychiatric hospital to restore competency for trial. That's why Harris County commissioners approved $645,000 to expand the capacity of their jail competency restoration program so more inmates can get the help they need to go before trial.
“These individuals are helped because of this investment,” said Lesley Briones, Commissioner for Harris County Precinct 4. “The victims are helped. Our community is safer. Court backlogs will continue to improve, as well as the overcrowding in our jail.”
Currently, around 70 inmates are restored to competency each year. This expansion is expected to increase that number to 150.
There are 224 inmates on the waiting list.
“The bottom line is there are too many folks with mental health issues stuck in jail for too long,” said Judge Hidalgo. “The simple truth is that justice delayed is justice denied, not just for those folks, but for the victims who are waiting and needing answers.”
Judge Hidalgo says housing people with severe mental illness in the jail costs taxpayers $35,000 per inmate each year.
“That’s more than three years’ tuition at the University of Houston,” she said.
Hidalgo says this program expansion will get underway in a few months.