Roy Exum
Back when we were uppity teenagers, the best put-down when a friend started acting crazy was to say to the heathen, “Quit acting like you are from Knoxville!” I don’t know how the term originated but I can say that back in the day it was pretty insulting to be told you were acting like you were from Knoxville. This week I wish that more of us acted like Knoxville. The Knox County Commission and the City Council just slapped an “out of the park” home run in the name of decency.
The two Knoxville groups just pledged a combined $1 million a year to bring humane kindness to our East Tennessee sister city. The commitment solidifies the creation of a new “Safety Center” that will separate those who are mentally ill and/or have drug dependency from the overcrowded Knox County Jail. In Chattanooga the daily census at the Hamilton County jail is roughly 100 prisoners over the prescribed 500-inmate maximum every day.
Wait, it’s worse than that. Sheriff Jim Hammond has another 400 at the workhouse because the jail is too small. Of those 1,000 inmates, the Sheriff told me yesterday afternoon, “About 25 percent shouldn’t be in jail. They have psychiatric issues, whether illness or addiction, and our officers have no choice but to put these people – who are actually suffering from treatable conditions – into our general population.”
Knoxville is plagued with the same problem that forces Sheriff Hammond to dole out over a quarter-million in psychotropic medications alone. Knoxville has a better idea; after years of planning, Knoxville police authorities will soon take the easily-identifiable mental patients to a hospital setting for 72 hours rather than a criminal setting where some wait for weeks until they can be stabilized and be seen by a judge.
The Knoxville move is genius. It costs the Hamilton County taxpayers $85,000 every day to operate the jail. To treat and house a hospital patient costs far less. Knoxville officials are the first to realize the $1 million that is put into the Safety Center will defer many millions more in related dollars per year than what it costs to numbly stack our mentally-needy in the same pile with law breakers.
The Safety Center in Knoxville will be secured but hardly needs to be a medium-security jail. At the Hamilton County Jail a prisoner can – and often does – refuse medication. In a hospital setting, the “patient” doesn’t have a choice and every person in the sheriff’s office will tell you the transformation that occurs when simple medications are successfully administered, allowing the patients to return to their normal selves.
The Knoxville Safety Center will be operated by the Helen Ross McNabb Center, a mental health provider that is well established in 25 East Tennessee counties, including Hamilton. There are four centers in Chattanooga – The Lighthouse, the Hamilton County Adult Center, the Hamilton County Child and Adolescent Center, and the Administrative facility on Shallowford Road.
“Oh my goodness, if Hamilton County will follow Knoxville’s lead it would be the greatest Godsend you can image,” Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond proclaimed. “Janna Jahn, who writes grants for the county, can show you where we can save millions by doing what other counties have found works all across America,” he added. “The thing that eats our jail staff alive is the fact our mentally-challenged are caught in a vicious cycle. If they do not take their medications, back to jail they come because our society doesn’t have a better plan.
“The Knoxville Safety Center assures those who are homeless, suffer from addictions, and face challenges that are not criminal will not end up in the county jail. And it has been proven time and time again, get these people treatment and help and they’ll never be seen in our county jail ever again,” the sheriff said. “That’s the ultimate goal of law enforcement … my hat is off to Knoxville and other cities who are finally facing the truths of the problem.”
On Wednesday at the County Commission the sheriff praised the men and women of his command for passing the top certification for sheriff’s departments in the nation. “This wasn’t about me … it is all about us. The biggest problem all of us face every day is doing the very best for those we have in custody. If we could treat our mentally challenged better, we could treat all of our inmates better. That is probably the toughest part of this job … doing what’s best for those who suffer the worst.”
Last week Cleveland police officers took a wanted suspect to the Bradley County Jail and officers there were unable to admit him. They were forced to release the man on his own recognizance. “That’s happening all the time,” said the sheriff. “No, it’s not right but I know what Bradley County is facing. They have no choice.”
In Knoxville there is an earnest vow for the Safety Center to succeed. Knox County Commissioner Bob Thomas said it best. “Look at all they money we are spending running people out (to the county jail.) We’ve got to get this under control,” he said, noting Knox County now spends a half-million in psychotropic drugs per year for inmates. “It’s like a wild animal we can’t get in a cage.”
Knoxville Mayor Tim Burchett told reporters, “Shame on us! The mentally ill shouldn’t be in jail. We can do better than that. But where do we go from here? We have to figure out (what a solution) will cost and do something about it. You can’t ignore this any longer.”
Earlier this week hundreds of Knoxville Christians filled Central United Methodist’s huge sanctuary to decry social problems in the public schools and the jails. Rev. Meredith Loftis of the city’s First Presbyterian Church said, “Knoxville leaders have taken baby steps. We need a lot more than baby steps.”
So in Knoxville this week, the county commission and the city council took giant steps. They are intent to separate the mentally ill from the criminals. One group will now go to a hospital rather than a prison. Knoxville will save millions. That’s peanuts compared to the lives that will be saved.
And I am of the solid belief it is exactly what Jesus would do. Let’s get going.
royexum@aol.com