Tarrant County seeks money to keep Jail Diversion Center open

Tarrant County's proposed budget for next fiscal year does not include funding for the Mental Health Jail Diversion Center, but officials are seeking money to continue the program.

The Diversion Center opened in 2022 in a former nursing facility in Fort Worth's Fairmount neighborhood. People suspected of minor, non-violent crimes and who also have mental health issues can receive treatment there instead of going to jail.

Democratic County Commissioner Roy Charles Brooks told KERA News on Friday he was confident the county would raise the funds needed to keep the center open.

“It is a critical part of our mental health infrastructure and we have no intention of letting it go away,” he said.

A spokesman for Republican District Judge Tim O'Hare's office echoed Brooks' sentiments and said there was no intention to close the diversion center.

The county's original plan was to fund the Diversion Center for two years Federal funds from pandemic relief will be used and a contract will be signed with My Health My Resources of Tarrant County (MHMR) to implement the project.

According to Helen Giese, the district's budget chief, these funds will expire in April or May.

When asked why the proposed budget for 2025 does not include funding for the Diversion Center, Giese said, “I simply do not have the funds for it.” A decline in revenue resulted in a budget proposal that is $50 million smaller than the previous county budget.

In a telephone interview on Friday, Giese said the district has been working on the issue of funding for the diversion center for months.

“I believe this is a doable situation,” she said. “I just think it will only take a few more months for all the people at the table to find a solution.”

The Diversion Center was opened in response to a local and national problem: prisons are indeed Mental health facilities.

In May, Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn told commissioners about 60% of the prisoners in his prison received psychiatric care.

Experts agree Prison is a dangerous place for people with mental illness. as their mental health can deteriorate behind bars. People can also be stuck in prison for Months or years when they are forced to wait for a bed in the state psychiatric hospital.

According to the district, 1,275 people were able to avoid prison thanks to the center.

Most of the Diversion Center's clients are homeless, the center's director, Mark Tittle, told KERA last year. In addition to temporary food, shelter and mental health care, the center also connects people with other types of help, including addiction treatment or even transportation to return them to their families in other states.

The new funding for the center could come from state or federal sources, said MHMR Executive Director Susan Garnett. MHMR is working to reduce costs and determine the exact amount needed to keep the center open.

“The number is definitely in the millions. There's no doubt about it,” Garnett said. “It costs millions of dollars to run a 24-hour facility of any size.”

Garnett says more and more people are coming to the center, which currently serves about 150 clients a month. These are people who might otherwise have ended up in jail and spat out on the streets again, “at the exact same point in life.”

“If the decision makers in Tarrant County believe it's a sensible strategy that meets the needs of this community, then I think we'll probably find a way to continue it,” she said.

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