Summit County Jail won't take violent, mentally ill people

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — The Summit County sheriff says his jail will stop housing mentally ill people who are violent and mentally disabled people arrested by local police.

Sheriff Drew Alexander has said that such people would receive more appropriate treatment in a mental hospital and that jailing them is inhumane.

The Akron Beacon Journal reports Alexander was announced the change today. The decision follows a federally funded review of the jail’s mental health programming.

A consultant working through the National Institute of Corrections has recommended that violent people with mental problems be referred for evaluation by a hospital or psychiatric crisis center before the jail accepts them.

Alexander says he doesn’t know of another county in the nation that has that policy.