North - Northwest Edition | May 2023

CITY & COUNTY

News from Austin & Travis County

Travis County takes first steps on mental health alternative to jail

THE PROBLEM

BY KATY MCAFEE

place, according to a county report. The county will also need to reinstate the counsel-at-first-appearance program, which was active for 13 days last spring and then canceled due to staffing shortages. “If it is done in isolation, nothing will change; it will just back up and be another jail,” said Dr. Stephen Stra- kowski, a professor at The University of Texas Dell Medical School who has compiled studies on the rate of repeat offenders who report struggling with mental illness. If the county successfully imple- ments all five components, it will still need to fully staff the center, which has historically been a struggle for both city and county law enforcement. Quiana Fisher, the homelessness response system strategy director for the Ending Community Home- lessness Coalition, added that to be effective, the diversion center will need staff who can adequately provide mental health resources to

TRAVIS COUNTY A diversion center that will bring nonviolent offenders to a facility with mental health services instead of jail or an emergency room is underway in Travis County. The center—an estimated $30 million endeavor that will take at least two years to build—will cost between $2.5 million-$5 million annually to operate and has been met with widespread support from the commu- nity since its announcement in March. The center will likely be funded through a variety of sources, includ- ing federal, state, city and county dollars; Central Health, the county’s health care district; and some private sources of funding. The diversion center is just one com- ponent of a five-part plan to reform the county’s jail system. To effectively address mental illness in the county, technology upgrades, bridge support housing programs and increased peer support services will need to be in

Many Travis County residents who need mental health care are going to jail or an emergency room after committing nonviolent crimes or showing mental health disorder-related behaviors.

40% of the Travis County Jail population reported mental illness.

150 Travis County Jail inmates are waiting for state mental health beds.

420 DAYS the longest time for an inmate to be transferred to a non-maximum security mental health facility

SOURCE: TRAVIS COUNTY/COMMUNITY IMPACT

people experiencing homelessness and Black residents as Black people have historically been underserved in mental health systems. When people with mental illness receive treatment instead of jail time, it creates safety for family members and the community as a whole, said Terra Tucker, a steering committee member and the Texas director for the Alliance for Safety and Justice, a public

safety solution organization. “Breaking cycles of crime and doing prevention are things that actually make us safe, right? So we’re not just being reactionary to what’s already happened, but preventing new things from happening,” Tucker said. Strakowski said diversion programs also create safety for people with mental illness as they are often subject to violence and assault themselves.

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