HARRIS COUNTY — Harris County commissioners on Thursday directed top criminal justice officials to develop initiatives aimed at diverting more defendants away from jail and into mental health treatment programs.
The vote instructs the county’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council to return before the 2027-2028 budget season with funding proposals for expanded mental health diversion programs. The council, composed of elected officials, public defenders, and law enforcement leaders, previously discussed expanding front-end diversion through the county’s diversion center and exploring a mental health pilot program with the district courts during a December meeting.
The commissioners’ decision came just before they unanimously approved a $7 million proposal to hire more than 100 additional detention officers for the county jail. The move is intended to maintain the state-mandated ratio of officers to inmates, especially after about 300 inmates previously housed in a private jail in Mississippi returned to the county following the end of an outsourcing contract. The return of these inmates reduced county costs by approximately $4 million.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, who proposed the mental health diversion initiative, highlighted concerns about the number of pretrial inmates flagged for mental health conditions. She suggested using savings from ending outsourcing contracts to support mental health programs.
“What I would like to hear is yes, it’s awful what’s happening to these families, yes, we have too many people in the jail who have mental illness who, by being in the jail, are being put at risk unnecessarily, and we are going to see how we can use some of the savings to keep those people out of the jail,” Hidalgo said.
County data show that 73% of inmates are currently taking psychotropic medication, and 77% have been flagged with mental health indicators.
The discussion comes as a second federal lawsuit this month was filed against Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, claiming that a Harris County Jail inmate who suffered delusions was unable to advocate for himself before dying in custody.
Sheriff’s office assistant chief Phillip Bosquez defended the facility, noting that Harris County Jail is the largest in the country to maintain correctional health care accreditation and exceeds state minimum standards. He acknowledged, however, that the jail has remained out of compliance with some state standards since last year, including deficiencies with fire control panels and delays in providing medical services.
“We never shoot for the minimum standard,” Bosquez said. “These thousands of inmate patients get better care than they would in the community. Our medical and mental health professionals stabilize them and get them up and going.” He added that newly approved funds for detention officers will cover supplemental supervision areas.
County officials, including District Attorney Sean Teare, have promoted diversion programs to reduce jail overcrowding for low-level offenders. Commissioners have also discussed constructing a new mental health-focused facility to address both overcrowding and medical needs. Last year, they authorized a feasibility study to explore long-term solutions for the jail’s aging infrastructure and capacity issues.
“The jail is stuffed full of people, and it will be for the foreseeable future,” said Jesse Dickerman, interim county administrator. “I don’t think we have come up with really good immediate solutions. Right now, we’re thinking more realistically about medium- and longer-term solutions — new facilities that better handle people with mental health issues.”