CHESTERFIELD, Va. (WWBT) – Chesterfield Sheriff Karl Leonard is raising concerns about the nation’s mental health care system, which he believes has been failing for decades.
“This isn’t a new problem that just showed up, this has been happening for the last four decades after we started shutting down mental institutions across the country,” said Sheriff Leonard. “Unfortunately, for most people across the country, they end up going to their local jails until they can get some help.”
This situation recently became a reality for Sheriff Leonard after a woman, who was in a mental health crisis, spent days inside the Chesterfield County Jail waiting for a bed to open at Central State Hospital.
Sheriff Leonard said the woman was issued a temporary detention order, which is a legal order issued by a magistrate requiring someone experiencing a mental health crisis to stay in a hospital or treatment facility for care…