The jail as mental institution

It's a little-known fact: Our King County Jail is a de facto mental institution, second in population only to Western State Hospital.

An individual booked into the King County Jail on a criminal charge or conviction will stay for an average of20 days. On the other hand, someone with a mental illness booked on an identical charge will spend an average of 158 days in jail, often waiting for a competency evaluation that may take months.

Many of these individuals are incarcerated for committing relatively minor crimes, such as spitting on a bus. Our jail director, Reed Holtgeerts, asks the right question: "Why are they in jail? Look at what taxpayers are paying for these guys, and what have they done?"

The cost is significant. At $300 a day, five months in jail racks up a $45,000 tab for taxpayers if the inmate is held in the psychiatric unit.

This situation is unacceptable from both a fiscal and social-justice perspective. Common sense tells us that a lengthy jail stay, without treatment, only worsens the inmate's mental illness. No one wins — not the people who are jailed nor those who are paying for it.

And it's not only the jails. Every day, people who are mentally ill or chemically dependent shuttle through homeless shelters and the emergency room at Harborview Medical Center, where they receive short-term, expensive assistance for their problems.

These issues are not abstract to me. After graduating from the University of Washington, I spent a year with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and directed an emergency-services office where I saw how clients struggled with mental illness or chemical addiction.

The King County Council recently adopted legislation calling for a study and action plan to get nonviolent offenders who are mentally ill or chemically dependent into treatment programs. The legislation requires the executive, sheriff, county prosecutor, the public defender and the county courts to create a plan with a focus on implementing a range of treatment, housing and case-management services, as well as integrating existing services and increasing access.

The report will also highlight potential savings from reducing emergency services and criminal-justice costs, while increasing public safety and bettering the lives and opportunities for some of our community's most-disadvantaged citizens.

Not surprisingly, such a comprehensive system will require an investment. Funding to address this issue is complex, but an opportunity lies before us. In 2005, the state Legislature provided each county with the authority to increase the sales tax by one-tenth of a cent — or one penny on a $10 purchase — for mental-health services. Under this statute, the respective county councils have the sole authority to increase the sales tax, not the voters.

Washington state counties are already acting on this new funding opportunity. For example, the Spokane County sheriff supported the increase. "My heart tells me these people do not belong in our jail," he said. In an advisory vote, more than 57 percent of Spokane voters agreed and their council quickly voted to approve the tax increase.

We must act now to address the issue of the mentally ill and chemically dependent in our criminal-justice and emergency systems if we are to change lives, improve the quality of our community and be fiscally responsible.

Bob Ferguson lives in Seattle's Maple Leaf neighborhood and serves on the Metropolitan King County Council. He is chairman of the council's Operating Budget, Fiscal Management and Mental Health Committee. His e-mail is: bob.ferguson@metrokc.gov