Tarrant County Commissioners Court unanimously passed a resolution requesting that the State of Texas provide funding for a mental health facility for Tarrant County residents.
According to the resolution, Tarrant County is the largest county in Texas without a state mental health facility within its borders. That has resulted in an average of 331 inmates in the Tarrant County Jail waiting for competency restoration—helping a defendant regain legal capacity to stand trial after they have been found incompetent—at any given time.
Commissioners propose using the funds to either build a state mental health facility, expand an existing facility with space allotted specifically for residents of Tarrant County, or partner with a private facility to serve county residents.
“The Tarrant County Commissioners Court respectfully requests for the State of Texas to provide funding to fill a critical gap in the county’s mental health continuum of care, providing essential services to residents, and alleviating pressure on the county jail and local mental health providers,” the resolution reads.
Tarrant County has already taken several steps to increase available treatment options for mental health issues. The county maintains 136 psychiatric beds in the JPS Health Network for emergent and short-term behavioral care, a 42-bed mental health jail diversion center to reduce incarceration rates for individuals with mental health conditions, a mental health law liaison program to improve interactions between law enforcement and those struggling with mental health, and the largest jail-based competency restoration program in Texas.
The resolution explained that state funding would reduce the burden on local taxpayers for a “costly jail expansion.”
Before the vote, Commissioner Roy Charles Brooks praised Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare for his leadership on the issue.
“It is my hope that your prayers added to the prayers of all the rest of us will help get those prayers beyond the ceiling so that the legislature will hear them and act,” said Brooks.
O’Hare told Texas Scorecard that without state help to create a facility, Tarrant County may be forced to consider a billion-dollar jail expansion to keep up with the growing population.
“This resolution addresses a critical issue: the Tarrant County Jail has become the de facto facility for housing individuals with mental illness, a role it was never designed to fulfill. With a population exceeding 2.1 million and growing, Tarrant County has no state-funded mental health facilities despite Texas having nine such facilities statewide. This gap places an undue burden on our local resources and fails to meet the needs of our residents,” said O’Hare.
Proper treatment reduces the likelihood of repeated crises and their associated impacts on public safety. Without a State Funded Mental Health Facility or designated beds for Tarrant County residents, Tarrant County may be forced to consider a costly billion-dollar plus jail expansion in the future to manage the growing number of individuals with untreated mental health conditions who are frequently processed through the jail system. We want to avoid this at all costs.
O’Hare said a state investment will allow Tarrant County officials to “continue to lead the way in property tax cuts, as we have successfully done over the past two years.”
The resolution will be sent to Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the speaker of the House, and all members of the Tarrant County delegation of lawmakers.
