Mental health in prisons; Mobile County Metro Jail warden talks about challenges

MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — Hundreds of correctional and prison professionals are in Mobile this week to attend the National Institute for Jail Operations' regional Jail Con 2024. The conference includes training on issues affecting prisons across the country, such as prison suicides.

Sam Houston, warden of the Mobile County Metro Jail, says mental health is one of the biggest challenges facing prisons.

“Unfortunately, we have become a camp for the mentally ill, and it is not the right place for them,

According to a 2016 survey by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, about 43% of state prisoners had a mental health history. Houston believes this may be due to a lack of societal resources as well as adequate funding.

“Unfortunately, we see time and time again that people are in prison for mental health reasons when they should be receiving treatment elsewhere. We should be trying to prevent them from going to prison,” he said. “We are now trying to work together and coordinate with the justice system and community resources to influence this and reduce the recidivism rate due to mental health issues.”

Houston says the closure of Searcy State Psychiatric Hospital has had a huge impact on prison populations across the state. He says while the state has created a new system to address the problem, he believes more resources are needed.

“I think there just needs to be some kind of step forward to address the problem, and I'm not throwing stones at the state of Alabama here. This is a national problem, and everyone is trying to figure out how best to address it with the tools they have,” he said.

Houston says the prison has full-time psychiatrists and psychologists who actively review cases and develop treatment plans for inmates.

“We're trying to develop more resources and have partners that we can work with to get as many of these inmates as possible to appropriate locations rather than having them housed and warehoused in prison. That's a disservice to the inmates. I think it's a disservice to the community to just warehouse them in a prison,” he said.