Bexar County Sheriff's candidates forum on Mental Health

600 inmates in Bexar County Detention Center have mental illness – who will fix this mess?

NAMI San Antonio and the Bexar County Mental Health Taskforce are hosting a Sheriff’s Candidate Forum focusing on Mental Health in the criminal justice system. Right now 600 inmates in the county jail system have mental illness –many return because of the lack of services and many suffer from a broken mental health system and criminal justice system.

Community Forum on Mental Health and Criminal Justice with Democrat and Republican Bexar County Sheriff Candidates

Moderator: Dr. Maria Felix Ortiz, Incarnate Word University /San Antonio Express News

Wednesday, February 13th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. @ Chapman Auditorium at Trinity University

NAMI San Antonio & Bexar County Mental Health Taskforce

Background on the Issue in Texas:

• A 2003 study identified 20 people who had been repeatedly hospitalized, jailed or admitted to detoxification centers; in the course of one year, providing these emergency services to these 20 individuals cost the county at least
• $1.1 million or $55,000 each
• 4.3 million Texans (3.1 million adults and 1.2 million children) had some form of diagnosable mental health disorder in 2002 (20%)
• The cost of sending an offender to residential treatment is 23.6% that of sending a prisoner to jail. Texas Department of Criminal Justice 1999