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The National Commission on Correctional Health Care has selected as Program of the Year the Harris County Jail’s Mental Health and Medical Security units.

NCCHC, whose accreditation process relies on nationally recognized standards for correctional health care, will present the award to Harris County Sheriff’s Office representatives at its annual conference on October 28, 2013, in Nashville.

The award recognizes a program in which specially trained sheriff’s deputies are assigned exclusively to the jail’s units in which inmates receive mental health care and general health care.

Six sergeants and 124 deputies are assigned to the two units, which are staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Deputies staffing the Mental Health Unit -- which has a housing capacity for 188 inmates who need the most intense treatment -- receive special training in working with inmates with mental illnesses. Perhaps best symbolizing their novel approach is their uniform which includes blue polo shirts rather than patrol deputy shirts, designed to lessen confrontation with inmates.

Deputies assigned to the Medical Security Unit work in the inmate infirmary and other areas of the 1200 Baker Street Jail where inmates receive treatment for a variety of medical needs.

The deputies work with medical personnel employed by the HCSO and the Mental Health Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County.

On any given day, 25 to 30 percent of the jail’s 9,000 inmates are prescribed psychotropic medication for mental illnesses. Most of these inmates are housed in “general population” group cells.

Sheriff Adrian Garcia has strengthened the Mental Health and Medical Security units as he has sought a more comprehensive criminal justice system approach to mental illness among alleged criminal offenders.

“We’d rather not be the largest single inpatient provider of mental health care in Texas. We’d rather see people with mental illness treated in the free world before they destabilize to the point where, in some cases, their behavior might be considered criminal,” Sheriff Garcia said. “But as long we have a legal obligation to provide inmates with health care, we will continue to do our job with innovation, excellence and efficiency on behalf of law-abiding taxpayers.”

“I salute the supervisors, deputies and health care personnel in the Mental Health and Medical Security units for their hard work, which involves a mix of law enforcement, strict security, compassion and knowledge of the health care. This esteemed award from the respected NCCHC, calling our program the best in the nation this year, is deserved recognition for their labor outside the public eye.”

For more information see www.ncchc.org and www.harriscounty.org

Photo attached: Dep. Jason Scott works with inmates in a mental health group cell in the Harris County Jail.

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