Jail Inreach Project

Every night, over 10,000 people – the population of a small city -- stay in two buildings in downtown Houston. The buildings aren’t a new high-rise complex or a trendy new loft development: they are the two main detention facilities of the Harris County Jail.

Furthermore, at any given time, nearly 25% of the inmates are diagnosed with mental illnesses like schizophrenia, major depression, and bipolar disorder, compared to 5% in the general population. Those with severe mental illness have nearly twice the number of legal charges against them as those without. While they are incarcerated, the jail treats their illnesses, with the spending on mental healthcare at the Jail rising to $24 million annually. This makes the Jail the largest provider of mental health care in Harris County.

But when inmates are released, the treatment for their illnesses abruptly stops, greatly increasing the likelihood that they will return to jail in a short time, completing the re-arrest cycle, and running up excessive expenses for area tax payers. Recently, the Houston Chronicle (July 21, 2008), reported a county budget analysis that says treating mentally ill patients as they cycle through jail and emergency treatment costs $80,000 per person, per year. This adds up to a total combined cost of $87 million annually to treat and incarcerate mentally ill inmates.

To address this need, we began a pilot project in 2007 – the Jail Inreach Project. It’s a collaboration with the Mental Health Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. It provides “inreach” services to mentally ill, homeless inmates and increased access to primary and mental health services for jail releasees. And the project helps to reduce the rearrest cycle by maintaining continuity of care, including the necessary prescription medications to treat releasees’ mental illnesses. Over a 22 month period, the Jail Project has shown considerable success, recording a 53% reduction in re-arrest rates.