On January 21, the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners will take a vote that has been years in the making—whether to finally open the Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery or allow it to continue sitting empty.
The seven-story facility is fully built, renovated, certified, and ready. It has been that way for more than a year. What’s missing is approval of the operating plan and budget needed to open its doors.
For decades, Miami-Dade County’s jail has quietly become the largest psychiatric facility in Florida. On any given day, thousands of people with serious mental illnesses are incarcerated not because they pose a danger, but because they lack access to treatment. They cycle between jail, homelessness, and emergency rooms, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars while never addressing the underlying problem…