As Bexar County’s jail inhabitants continues to pressure beneath the load of untreated psychological sickness and substance use, native officers are weighing a unique strategy: diverting some folks away from incarceration and straight into therapy earlier than they change into entrenched within the justice system.
Final month, San Antonio Metropolis Council’s Public Security Committee superior a Council Consideration Request filed by Councilwoman Teri Castillo (D5) calling for a joint city-county advert hoc committee to discover a centralized diversion and restoration system. The proposal, which incorporates supporting a feasibility research for a possible diversion heart, is ready to be briefed throughout a Feb. 11 Metropolis Council B Session.
The dialogue comes as there’s mounting strain on the Bexar County Jail, the place Sheriff Javier Salazar has repeatedly mentioned the ability has change into a de facto psychological well being supplier for a whole bunch of people that don’t have to be incarcerated…