The pilot program would address inmates' mental health issues in an attempt to get them declared competent to stand trial.
Bexar County Commissioner Grant Moody, left, and Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar participate in a press conference outlining the Jail Based Competency Restoration pilot program.Some of the roughly 300 inmates in Bexar County’s jail who have been deemed incompetent to stand trial could benefit from a new pilot program if approved by Bexar County commissioners, officials said at a press conference Monday.
Currently, there is no program within the jail dedicated to restoring legal competency. That job typically belongs to the state, which has due to severe staffing shortages. While Dallas County is suing the state over that shortcoming, Bexar County leaders have decided instead to take matters into their own hands.
Some people have been in jail longer than the sentence for their crime would be, Salazar said. Once declared competent, a judge could set them free, but until then, he said,” they’re going to sit in that jail, and they’re going to continue to decompensate on us despite our best efforts.” Not all inmates are capable of competency restoration, Salazar said. “We know that there is a certain population [of inmates] … that just simply are not going to be good candidates for this.”
“Personally, I’m excited about it,” Moody said. “I think this is part of a holistic solution when it comes to mental health services and dealing with those found incompetent.”or substance abuse challenges have “no business” in jail, said Jelynne LeBlanc Jamison, president and CEO of CHCS. “But we’re trying to work within the system.”Scott Ball / San Antonio Report
“We are very excited about the findings from the Meadows Policy Institute study, which identified that we need a psychiatric campus in Bexar County to serve civil and forensic needs in this community,” Jamison said. “Houston has one, Dallas has one. It’s Bexar County’s time. … We’re very hopeful that we can make that a reality in the coming years.”
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