Ohio Jail to Tackle Mental Illness as Opioid Crisis Abates

DAYTON, Ohio—Jails around the country are facing a barrage of issues.

Almost all inmates are in for drug or alcohol-related crimes; more than one-third have a diagnosed mental illness; the number of state mental health beds has plummeted; inmate numbers have skyrocketed; and many jails have faced budget cuts.

The most pressing issue isn’t new; it has been steadily growing, but the opioid crisis has helped thrust it to the forefront. It’s mental illness.

On any given day, there are about 750,000 people in jails across America.

“Every jail in our country, somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 to 40 percent of the people … are diagnosed mentally ill,” said National Sheriffs’ Association president Sheriff Daron Hall of Davidson County, Tennessee.