ORLANDO, Fla. — Right now, there are about 3,000 inmates in the Orange County Jail, and 9 Investigates discovered a third of those inmates are there because they suffer from a mental illness.
Investigative reporter Daralene Jones has been digging into the issue for five months and uncovered why the jail is becoming a warehouse for the mentally ill.
Francine Harrison has a stack of paperwork detailing her son's troubled life.
"He's been arrested at least four or five times," Harrison told 9 Investigates of her son, Marc.
PDF: Data Pertaining to Mental Health Inmates
The 14-year-old is schizophrenic. His most recent arrest came after he allegedly robbed a disabled woman at a Dollar General store.
"That made me want to cry, because he didn't have to. Now, what he gone do next?" Harrison said.
Data 9 Investigates requested reveals a disturbing trend: Jails nationwide are becoming warehouses for the mentally ill.
And numbers for the Orange County Jail show 46,000 people were booked last year with about 8,000 diagnosed with a mental illness.
"We sometimes use the term frequent flyer because we see them over and over again," said Dr. Leonard Branch, lead psychiatrist at the jail.
One mentally ill inmate has been in and out of the jail 260 times for petty crimes, including trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Jail time for the mentally ill averages nearly 60 days, more than twice as long as other inmates, Jones said. The cost to taxpayers is $8.9 million.
"I don't think correctional officers realize they're taking over a job that was done by state hospitals," said Branch.
Francine said she's pushed to get her son long-term care to keep him out of jail.
"He needs help, and I'm not talking about jail. He needs mental help," she said.
In the '60s, state hospitals nationwide shut down in exchange for community-based care at facilities like Aspire Health in Orlando.
The budget there is $85 million to treat 20,000 people in Orange County. It only has space for 190 long-term care beds.
"Why is it so hard to get funding for mental health," Jones asked.
"It's hard to give a good answer, other than priorities," said Jerry Kassab, director for Aspire Health Partners.
Paula Kegelman is with the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. She said her son has schizophrenia, too, and she's been fighting for more state funding through the organization.
"We need mental illness to be discussed as openly as cancer, heart disease and diabetes, and we are nowhere near that," Kegelman said.
This isn't just a local jail problem. Numbers provided by the state Department of Corrections show it is currently treating between 17,000-18,000 inmates who are mentally ill.
WFTV
