Captain Gregory Van Patten, the Commander and Corrections Division Public Information Officer of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, says that a behavioral health facility is crucial for inmates suffering from mental illness.
Sheriff Van Patten: There is a significant population that we have that do have mental health conditions and needs, it’s unique that we can provide services and work with what their abilities are. Mental health brings a significant challenge, especially in a correctional facility setting.
The behavioral health project’s construction began in February and is planned to be finished in January 2026. The new unit will contain three medical exam rooms, a dental office, and small programming rooms for therapy and consultations. There will also be three secure outdoor exercise yards available to the unit’s inmates.
Measure B, a sales tax measure passed in 2017, approved a 0.5% tax increase for five years and decreased to 0.125% thereafter. It was guaranteed to fund mental health resources throughout the county. Measure B funds have assisted several mental health care facilities such as the Crisis Residential Treatment in Ukiah, the Fort Bragg Crisis Respite Center, and the Behavioral Health Regional Training Center in Redwood Valley. In August, Mendocino County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services also broke ground on a new psychiatric health facility in Ukiah.
For the construction of the behavioral health wing, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office received a grant from the Board of State and Community Corrections for $25 million in 2017; the grant required the county to contribute $1.1 million of its own funds. The unit was set to be finished in December 2021, but then the COVID-19 pandemic happened, and the cost of building supplies increased, both of which slowed down construction. While construction costs increased, the grant money did not. This is what spurred the sheriff’s department to turn to other funding sources.
Sheriff Van Patten: This resulted in the asking of Measure B funds to be appropriated.
Mendocino County has one of the highest suicide rates in all of California, according to a California Health Care Foundation report. According to a U.S.News & World Report, 17.4% of adults in the county have frequent mental distress. For incarcerated people, these kinds of issues are exacerbated when there aren’t sufficient mental health resources. The county has tried to help inmates with mental illnesses as best as it can, but hospitals are often at capacity and don’t have sufficient space for the inmates who need treatment. According to Sheriff Van Patten, the sheriff’s department contracted with the Department of State Hospitals in 2019 to implement the Jail Based Competency Treatment Program, which allows care providers to come into jails to help individuals with debilitating mental or physical conditions. With that revenue contract, the sheriff’s office hired medical providers through NaphCare, a healthcare company based in Alabama. Van Patten says that although the jail’s purpose is not necessarily to provide medical care, the facility often acts as a de facto mental health facility for incarcerated people in Mendocino County.
Sheriff Van Patten: [The jail is] operating as a kind of psychiatric facility, and we can provide these services that can help our behavioral health population. At the end of the day, it’s about providing a service to someone who needs it.
This story was originally published with The Mendocino Voice
