The politics of suicide at the Bexar County Jail

The San Antonio press has had a flurry of coverage recently related to the increased number of suicides at the Bexar County Jail, with some laying the blame at the Sheriff's feet and others defending him. Here are some of the key recent pieces of coverage:

• SA Express News: Changes at Bexar jail aimed at keeping suicide rate low
• SA Current: Why have jail suicides soared under Sheriff Ortiz's watch?
• KSAT: Sheriff: Report of jail suicides misleading
• Fox29: Sheriff fires back at jail critics

The SA Current piece by Michael Barajas is perhaps the best of the lot. A key quote from the Current: "'Our jail is essentially another mental health facility,' Joel Janssen, president of the Bexar County Deputy Sheriff's Association, the union representing jail guards, told the Current earlier this month, a symptom of the state's dismal funding of mental health care. 'We're dealing with a different class of inmates than when I started 30 years ago, I can tell you that for sure.'"