30 PERCENT OF JAIL INMATES AT TUSCALOOSA COUNTY JAIL ARE MENTALLY ILL

More mentally ill people are in Alabama’s prisons than its state hospitals, according to the Treatment Advocacy Center.

Tuscaloosa County Jail Chief Deputy Eric Bailey said 30 percent of the jail population has some form of mental illness, and those inmates are stuck in general population. Bailey said it takes about a third of their medical budget to keep those inmates medicated.

Bailey said they’re working on fixing the problem by having a psychiatrist to come to the jail each week and with the assistance of the mental health court program.

Only two Medicaid-sponsored inpatient mental health facilities operate in Tuscaloosa: Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility and Bryce Hospital.