'It is changing people's lives' - Mental Health facility at new jail offers training and counseling

‘It is changing people’s lives’ – Mental Health facility at new jail offers training and counseling

From the outside looking in, the new Madison County Jail at 515 South Liberty Street, is simply a holding place for hardened or average criminals.

But that’s not the case for the Behavioral Care Center – one of six in the state – which is a new 20-bed facility inside the jail, and adjacent to the Criminal Justice Complex.

“After an arrest is made, they will be assessed, and if mental help is needed, they will be diverted to another area outside the facility,” said State Senator Ed Jackson (R-Jackson), “The Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse is a very valuable program (and) there is nothing like around here – it is changing people’s lives.

“Instead of people being incarcerated and continuing to return to prisons and jails, they are able to receive some training and counseling they need.”

Jackson, who joined State Commissioner Marie Williams, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Madison County Sheriff John Mehr, State Senator, Speaker Pro Tem, Ferrell Haile (R-Sumner County), and local officials for a tour of the new Madison County Correctional Facility, Friday, said the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse also provided an additional grant to provide Mental Health Transportation.

Approximately 41 percent of the local jail population struggles with mental illness, but nationally, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported in the past as many as 64 percent of people in U.S. jails suffer from some form of mental health issue and 31 percent have a major depressive disorder.

“We’ve been working on this for (at least) seven years, building these programs (while) continuing to expand, and we’re known across the state of Tennessee as people involved in mental health and trying to change lives,” said John Mehr, Madison County Sheriff, “Other states are looking at us as leaders and we’re actually going, the first of the week, to present to a state conference in Columbia, Missouri for mental health and Crisis Intervention Training.”

(PHOTO: From left, State Senator Ed Jackson (R-Jackson) State Commissioner Marie Williams, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, State Senator and Speaker Pro Tem, Ferrell Haile (R-Sumner County) with Madison County Sheriff John Mehr discussed a new Behavioral Care Center at the new Madison County jail)