Mentally ill at Chesapeake jail face space problem

With this happening and special courts for veterans starting up all over the country has anyone looked into how many combat veterans were already sitting in jail instead of being helped to heal from what combat did to them?

Mentally ill at Chesapeake jail face space problem
By Veronica Gonzalez
The Virginian-Pilot
© August 13, 2012
CHESAPEAKE

Holding nearly 300 inmates with mental health problems presents a daily challenge at the already-overcrowded Chesapeake Correctional Center.

Of that group, about 50 belong in a mental health facility, jail officials say.

The most pressing challenge for this population comes down to space - or lack thereof.

With declining resources to treat the mentally ill and a shift away from institutionalization, the correctional center here - like many Virginia jails - has become a mental health facility by default. And that trend shows no signs of subsiding.

Calls in Chesapeake involving mentally ill subjects have remained steady the past 2-1/2 years. There were 866 in 2010; 853 in 2011; and 535 in the first half of this year.

"Are deputies mental health professionals? Absolutely not," said Col. Jim O'Sullivan, the undersheriff. "We do our best to get these individuals balanced and better acclimated."

But in a facility that consistently hovers at more than twice its capacity, there aren't enough cells to house those with mental health problems.
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Each state has been cutting back on mental healthcare funding leaving many veterans with no help at all, especially when they cannot get help from the VA. How many did we fail by sending them to jail instead of sending them for help?