Dealing with inmates with mental health issues continues to be a challenge for Pulaski County’s jail staff. “It’s just the problems of the nation in microcosm here right in our jail with mental health,” Sheriff Jeff Richwine told the county commissioners last week.
Richwine said there’s one inmate who needs a lot more help than the county can provide. “This guy has defecated over the whole room, spread it all over the windows, so you’ll have to go clean him up. So he fights them coming into the cell to have to clean this mess up,” Richwine explained. “And it’s not just a Pulaski County problem. This is a national problem.”
But the sheriff said the last time the jail had an inmate who was seriously mentally ill, it took 90 days to place the person in an appropriate facility. Richwine said he wanted people to understand what the jail staff goes through, pointing out that he’s still seeing a pretty high turnover rate.
