- Yourhoustonnews.com: Texas has nowhere but prison for most mentally ill convicts
- Fort Worth Star-Telegram: State mental health program is in crisis, requiring immediate action
- Killeen Daily Herald: Analysis: Pay for mental health or pay for jailer
- Houston Chronicle: Texas Department of State Health Services is in a crisis and needs attention
- Dallas Observer: Texas increased mental health funding but Dallas isn't getting the money - and it hurts
- Dallas Observer: It really sucks to be mentally ill in Texas
- Community Impact Newspaper: Austin mental health facilities now operating at full capacity
- KFDA-TV: Mental health treatment for those who end up in the county jail
- CNN: The real gun problem is mental health, not the NRA
Monday, July 07, 2014
Texas' paltry mental health infrastructure strains justice system
There's been lots of MSM coverage over the last month regarding mental health and the Texas criminal justice system. Here are several articles I've run across that merit readers' attention:
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7 comments:
That would cost the state millions. First we have to keep those pesky illegal kids out, then, we can begin to think about mental health for our citizens. Filling prison beds is of utmost importance.
As we invite millions to cross the border into Texas do we have unlimited funds to provide mental health services? What about medical services? Welfare services? What about the hundreds of new schools we now have to build--of course we can stiff the taxpayers with this bill.
What exactly is the connection between mental health and illegal immigration? Or are y'all so obsessed with this one topic you're incapable of actually commenting on the subject of the post?
Mental health on the juvenile side can be a very tricky subject. The lack of services for juveniles in especially rural and medium communities contributes to the delinquency rates rising when lae enforcement know if they place a charge on a kid that needs help it forces the county juvenile probation department into providing these services. Inevitabely some end up in the state system when in reality if they just received basic services at a young age they probably wouldn't have made it into the criminal justice system at all. For the most part these kids are indigent and some don't even have medicaide so no mental health provider will touch them without payment. Medications can run somewhere in the $5-900 range per month without insurance. So, many kids dont receive the meds they need. If the state MHMR system had adequate funding to assist the many kids that need services youi would see a drop in referrals to the criminal justice system. Meds are much cheaper than incarceration (Avg over $100 per day).
Texas' paltry mental health infrastructure is odd given the wealth of our state. We could increase funding simply by raising resources through a more equitable tax system.
The mental health infrastructure of many states needs improvement but rather that trying to take away from the justice system, we should actually just focus on the mentally ill people.
Bunch of lazy malingerers faking it for attention. The only way we know for sure if they have a bona fide mental illness is when they succeed at one of their many phony suicide attempts.
Yes, that was sarcasm. But given the attitudes of many in Texas' health care system, it's not too far from the truth.
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