Wick Allison, conservative journalist and Editor in Chief of DMagazine here in Dallas, has an interesting comment on his blog relative to the multi-billion dollar budget surplus that Texas enjoys these days. . .especially in view of the horrid living conditions facing our state's most vulnerable citizens.
Makes you think. What are "Texas values" these days?
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Showing posts with label mental illness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mental illness. Show all posts
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Mental Health and Dallas Jails
In Dallas County our public hospital system, Parkland Health and Hospital System, provides medical services for the County Jails.
Recently, I participated in a panel discussion at the Dallas County Commissioners Court regarding housing and homelessness.
One aspect of the presentation shocked me.
Dallas County operates the 7th largest jail system in the United States.
Currently, our jails “house” 1,270 inmates who have been diagnosed with mental illness.
Of these folks, 272 have been determined to be homeless.
Sixty-four of these persons take psychotropic medications, or they should, to manage their illness.
One hundred-twenty-seven are addicted to some sort of drug.
Is it just me, or doesn’t it seem logical and much more humane that these men and women might do better if they were placed in an environment other than jail?
Of course, Texas ranks 48th and 49th respectively in mental health and addiction treatment services. I guess with so little funding available, we've just decided as a community that jail is as good a place as any for the “throwaways” in our population.
But, we are compassionate here, please don’t lose sight of that fact!
Maybe this is something we could pray about this weekend in church, temple and mosque.
What do you think?
Recently, I participated in a panel discussion at the Dallas County Commissioners Court regarding housing and homelessness.
One aspect of the presentation shocked me.
Dallas County operates the 7th largest jail system in the United States.
Currently, our jails “house” 1,270 inmates who have been diagnosed with mental illness.
Of these folks, 272 have been determined to be homeless.
Sixty-four of these persons take psychotropic medications, or they should, to manage their illness.
One hundred-twenty-seven are addicted to some sort of drug.
Is it just me, or doesn’t it seem logical and much more humane that these men and women might do better if they were placed in an environment other than jail?
Of course, Texas ranks 48th and 49th respectively in mental health and addiction treatment services. I guess with so little funding available, we've just decided as a community that jail is as good a place as any for the “throwaways” in our population.
But, we are compassionate here, please don’t lose sight of that fact!
Maybe this is something we could pray about this weekend in church, temple and mosque.
What do you think?
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