Sheriff Waybourn is right: Tarrant County jails can’t handle mental illness alone | Opinion
Compounding problems in jails
Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn is right: Jails have become de facto mental health institutions. (May 9, 1A, “Residents urge release of inmate with mental health issues”) However, the blame must be distributed. It is time to hold our local social service authorities, department heads and elected officials accountable for mental health issues in jail.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that almost half of all incarcerated inmates have been diagnosed with mental illness. Many of these individuals have substance abuse issues, too. Many pre-arrest and community transition triage functions are used throughout the country. Tarrant County’s system is obviously not working.
Do people know and not care, or do they care and don’t know?
- Leslie J. Smith, Grapevine
Wrong way to help the homeless
The Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of criminalizing homelessness. It’s understandable that many communities are overwhelmed and frustrated with the problems caused by the homeless. Unfortunately, leaders follow their old pattern — the quick fix of “lock them up.”
Where has that taken us? To crime, and the money drain and sociological failure of our prison system.
Prison is necessary to protect the public from violent offenders and career criminals. However, our limited resources must be spent wisely. In recent years, almost half of U.S. homicides are unsolved — a statistic that has worsened over time. Police should be finding and incarcerating murderers and other dangerous criminals instead of rounding up the homeless.
Rather than building more prisons, why not build housing? How is incarceration better than treating people with mental illness and addiction and raising people out of poverty?
- Sherry Robinson, Woodway
Help the people, not corporations
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s effort to stop income assistance shows how out of touch our leaders are. (May 5, 5C, “Why is Paxton going after this anti-poverty pilot program?”) Many Americans are struggling to survive. Is this how generations of Texas residents, veterans and the elderly are to be treated? Refusing to help those in need, restricting what women do with their bodies, sending armed guards after college students — Texas is going backward.
While billions go overseas for foreign aid and companies continue to hire from outside the state and country, Texans in need can’t even receive much-needed help.
- Tawny Denton, The Woodlands
Park Hill belongs in history books
I loved Richard Selcer’s May 5 feature about Fort Worth history. (1C, “University Place sprang up as isolated suburb near TCU”) Next year, Park Hill will be 100 years old. We have lived here for 10 wonderful years, and we suggest its motto should be: “Just rich enough.”
- Chuck Noteboom, Fort Worth
Israel-Hamas deserves clarity
News organizations should not portray protests of the war in Gaza as a conflict between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli supporters. It is possible to oppose attacks on innocent civilians ordered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and to feel deep sympathy for Jewish communities who suffered brutal attacks by Hamas.
If elections were held in Israel today, Netanyahu would almost certainly lose.
The U.S. government is in an almost impossible position, trying to defend the existence of an important ally while supporting the creation of a Palestinian state. If student protests make it clear that Netanyahu’s position is unsupportable, it might help efforts to end the war.
- Karen Myers, Fort Worth
