From different communities in different parts of Indiana, two county sheriffs told lawmakers very similar stories about the mentally ill individuals who end up in their jails.
Howard County Sheriff Steve Rogers and Franklin County Sheriff Kenneth Murphy were frank in their assessment that the local jails are not equipped to handle the severely mentally ill people who are arrested again and again.
They pointed to the closure of state mental hospitals in the 1980s in favor of privatizing treatment as exasperating the situation. Many of the mentally ill individuals being arrested are not able to get help outside of jail because they have no money or insurance to pay for treatment at a private facility.
“We have become the mental health hospital for the United States,” Murphy said.
The General Assembly’s Interim Study Committee on Corrections and Criminal Code examined the issue of mental health issues in jails and prisons at its first meeting Sept. 15.