Knoxville News-Sentinel
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — “One-Baker” is a 48-cell block at the Knox County Detention Facility distinguished for the inmates who reside there.
Yes, they are in trouble with the law, but many are homeless, and struggling with mental illnesses.
According to Knox County Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones, they shouldn’t be there in the first place, but with few viable alternatives, the detention unit has become by default what Jones calls “the largest mental health facility in Tennessee.”
And Jones is absolutely right when he contends that it should not be this way.
“This isn’t fair to them; it’s not fair to the taxpayers,” he said. “They need to be somewhere they can get the help they need. Police officers are not trained to deal with the mentally ill.”
Jones has been preaching this sermon for some time, and it is one that bears attention, both at the local and state levels. With the nation and state in recession, the problem is likely to grow before it improves, but how a society treats those citizens who most need the help of other people or institutions says a great deal about it.
As Jones notes, the number of inmates who have a mental illness runs between 18 percent and 20 percent of the 1,200 housed at the detention unit on a given day. That can be overwhelming.
They are housed, fed and treated, Jones says, using taxpayer money meant to keep the community safe by putting away dangerous criminals. The sheriff said the department spends between $350,000 and $400,000 each year on psychotropic drugs.
The Helen Ross McNabb Center, which provides medical assistance to treat mentally ill inmates, estimates the cost at $197 a day for an inmate, once psychiatric care is brought in. Through this program, inmates have access to a psychiatrist and other medical personnel who can evaluate them and prescribe medications. And when the inmates are discharged, they receive a 30-day supply of psychotropic medications, but too often these medicines are lost, stolen or sold when they return to the streets.
Knoxville and Knox County can do better, and they are trying to make big improvements. The most significant one, backed by Jones, is the joint city-county 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homeless. The plan would provide housing that ensures the clients receive consistent health care and would save the county money in the long run.
Jones says most of those who would be helped are dangerous only to themselves, and he believes they can be productive citizens as long as they receive their medication and can be monitored by case workers.
Jones, as one of the plan’s strongest supporters, should keep this message before the public.
The 10-Year Plan asks us as a community to examine our priorities in a way many people might choose to ignore. As we discuss the plan and the issue of homelessness generally, we should keep one thing in mind: Jail is not the proper place for any society to house homeless people with mental health issues.
Copyright 2009 Knoxville News-Sentinel