VANDERBURGH COUNTY, Ind. (WEHT)- The Vanderburgh County Jail is getting its first on-site behavioral health unit as a part of an expansion project. The new unit is something Vanderburgh County Sheriff, Noah Robinson says has been needed for years.
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The new unit is part of a partnership between Southwest Behavioral Health and the Vanderburgh County Jail to help inmates struggling with mental illness. Sheriff Robinson spoke at the soft launch of the program and says it signals a change in mindset. “We want our inmates not just seeing guards. We want those who are willing to change, and able to change, to have every avenue possible because we know if you just send somebody out the front door and make no effort to rehabilitate them, then they are going to walk right out that door and go right to the same pattern.”
Southwest Behavioral Health says it will provide peer recovery specialists, case managers and psychiatrists for the unit, which will hold ten bends and will initially focus on those deemed unfit to stand trial. Sheriff Robinson says the unit will in turn, help to speed up the judicial process for those awaiting trial, which he believes is better for taxpayers. The program is now in its initial phase, which includes identifying inmates for the program while the new unit is built…