MENTALLY ILL NOT ONLY PROBLEM AT JAIL

I have heard much discussion about the treatment of mentally ill
inmates at the Escambia County Jail, and this is quite overdue. We
need to stop housing these people in a facility not equipped to give
them the help and treatment they need.

Sheriff Ron McNesby has finally begun to give attention to this
problem, and let's hope it is more than lip service. He also has said
our jail is overcrowded and understaffed, and I feel we have not had
enough frank discussion on realistic solutions to this problem.

In addition to the problem of mental illness, there is the epidemic
of drug and alcohol addiction.

Instead of treating people with substance abuse problems like
criminals, we should be getting them the help they need. If a person
is arrested on a simple, nonviolent drug-possession charge, or a
nonviolent alcohol-related charge, that person should go straight to
a secure medical facility for evaluation and treatment. If the person
does not want treatment, then he or she can go to and be processed
through the regular criminal channels, but only after being deemed
medically safe to be housed at the jail.

As for misdemeanor marijuana charges, the suspect should be ticketed
and required to appear in court. If the suspect fails to appear, then
and only then should he or she be taken into custody.

Of course, the facilities I speak of do not exist. I believe this
community would be better served by constructing this type of
facility than simply expanding our current jail and trying to hire a
larger corrections force. Even if we build a jail wing dedicated
expressly to housing the mentally ill, we will still have a jail
overcrowded with people who should be treated more like patients than
criminals.

We also should keep in mind that many county jail inmates have not
been convicted of anything. Our justice system was built on the
premise that every individual is innocent until proven guilty. It no
longer operates this way, and that is why our justice system is failing.

We can hire all the corrections officers in the world, but until the
system starts treating inmates humanely and compassionately, we will
not solve these problems.

As a former drug addict who spent time in jail, I have seen the
problems firsthand. This is a very dangerous situation for all involved.

McNesby is doing too little, too late.