TEXANS MUST END 'INHUMAN' PRACTICES

In a draft of a report released by state public health officials at a
May 24 meeting, physician E. S. Cox noted that confinement of the
mentally ill in jails is "barbarous, cruel, inhuman and
heathenish."

As the Associated Press reported, Cox and his colleagues, meeting in
Galveston since May 12, urged the state "to make all haste in
providing accommodations for them."

If the words sound a bit archaic, there's good reason: That May
meeting chaired by Dr. Cox took place in 1916.

What's disturbing is that the good doctor's admonition is as pertinent
today as it was 86 years ago, perhaps even more so.

In 2002, in a state that spends less money per capita on public mental
health services than 46 other states, jails and prisons remain the
"warehouse" of only resort for many people with schizophrenia and
other debilitating illnesses of the brain.

In 2002, an estimated 16,000 to 24,000 Texans suffering from mental
illnesses are behind bars. More languish behind bars, in fact, than
are being treated in psychiatric hospitals.

Most who are locked up are there not because they committed violent or
serious crimes, but because this state has never implemented a
comprehensive mental illness care and treatment system.

Bexar County residents can be proud of an exemplary jail diversion
program that Sheriff Ralph Lopez has implemented, a program designed
to identify the mentally ill who end up in jail and try to direct them
to more appropriate services.

In Bexar County and across the state, however, those services often
don't exist. Jail, a horrible place for the mentally ill to be, is all
that's available. (Bexar County, by the way, receives less funding for
mental health services than most urban and rural counties in Texas.)

Far too many Texans can't find the care and treatment they need.
Thousands are on waiting lists for essential services.

In 2002, many people with serious mental illnesses - and family
members trying to care for them - are still forced to tolerate an
infuriating "revolving door" of repeated hospitalizations, abandonment
to the streets and often incarceration for vagrancy, drug abuse,
trespassing or disorderly conduct.

Texas mental health advocates are adept at laying out for lawmakers
what the state needs to do to "make all haste in providing
accommodations" for the mentally ill.

They tirelessly explain that Texas needs to make new-generation
medications more readily available; strengthen jail-diversion programs
like Bexar County's and open up more community-based options; fund
programs that provide early treatment for at-risk children with mental
illness; and maintain funding for the Texas Department of Mental
Health Mental Retardation.

They point out that state funding for mental health services, when
adjusted for inflation, has declined 6 percent from 1981.

They also are realists. They know that in 2003, the state will be $5
billion to $12 billion short of the money lawmakers need simply to
meet current obligations.

Every agency has been instructed to cut and not request more money.
Agencies will have to engage in unseemly dogfights merely to hang on
to current levels of funding.

The advocates also know as Dr. E. F. Cox knew nearly a century ago
that over the years Texas often has balanced its budget on the
backs of those least able to fend for themselves.

Here at the beginning of the 21st century, it's time for Texas to
inaugurate a new tradition. Despite the budget difficulties, lawmakers
should invest in smart, effective care and support services for Texans
coping with mental illness. It's an investment guaranteed to pay dividends.