ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- They are some of society's most vulnerable, the mentally ill and addicted. They are also arrested more frequently than any other groups. Now state funding cuts may mean they have no place to go but jail when cops pick them up.

When Orange County law enforcement arrest someone who is having a serious mental crisis or is clearly an addict, the consensus is that taking them to jail isn't the right thing to do. That's why the Central Receiving Center was created to accept the mentally ill and addicted in times of crisis.

Arresting officers can quickly drop the patients off there and get back to making rounds, rather than waiting hours at an emergency room. It's also considered better for the patients, who often need intense mental health care.

But funding cuts by the state may mean big reductions in what the CRC is able to. Not only will they have fewer beds available, but their ability to monitor patients after they leave treatment will be greatly reduced. Without oversight, many patients will be arrested again and again.

"It's terrible. It's really sad to see that the clients are going to be the ones that suffer, not going to get the treatment they deserve," said clinical manager Laura Gailey.

"We'll go back to how we did business pretty much six years ago, which is people piling up in emergency department, people going to jail," said Donna Wyche, Orange County Health and Family Services Department.

Experts at the Central Receiving Center say having inmates who are in the midst of a mental health breakdown or a major addiction in regular jail is very different than having a more stable person locked up. So, even as the CRC’s funding gets cut, the burden on jails may increase.

Critics of the budget cuts say they're actually pretty short-sighted. They say it will save money in next year's budget, but long-term they argue that it's cheaper for CRC case managers to keep an eye on patients and keep them out of jail and out of the CRC altogether.