1 00:00:02,500 --> 00:00:04,800 JUDY WOODRUFF: Last week, our Brief But Spectacular segment focused on mental health from the 2 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:09,800 perspective of a parent whose son was failed by legal and mental health systems in Washington 3 00:00:10,533 --> 00:00:12,566 state. 4 00:00:12,566 --> 00:00:16,333 Tonight, we hear from the warden of Metro County Jail in Mobile, Alabama, to get his 5 00:00:16,333 --> 00:00:19,200 take on how the mental health crisis affects his operation. 6 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:23,266 TREY OLIVER, Warden, Metro County Jail: With our tongue in our cheek, we look at inmates 7 00:00:23,266 --> 00:00:27,700 sometimes and say, listen, life here is not great. 8 00:00:27,700 --> 00:00:32,700 This is not a resort, it's not a hotel, it's not a retreat, it's not Burger King. 9 00:00:34,166 --> 00:00:36,366 You don't get it your way, and we do not want you to come back. 10 00:00:36,366 --> 00:00:41,333 So, we preface everything by saying, this is less-than-ideal situations. 11 00:00:47,033 --> 00:00:52,000 The difference between a prison and a jail is, essentially, in a prison, you are serving 12 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:55,866 out your sentence that a judge has handed down. 13 00:00:55,866 --> 00:00:59,866 For the most part, our population is here awaiting to go to trial. 14 00:00:59,866 --> 00:01:04,433 The average stay for an inmate here at Metro Jail would be about 17 days. 15 00:01:04,433 --> 00:01:09,333 Now, that is misleading when you first consider it, because we have inmates that literally 16 00:01:09,333 --> 00:01:13,233 have been here for four-and-a-half years awaiting to go to trials. 17 00:01:13,233 --> 00:01:17,233 And, typically, that would be facing a murder trial. 18 00:01:17,233 --> 00:01:22,233 Working in any jail this size is a very hostile work environment, sometimes worse than a prison, 19 00:01:23,466 --> 00:01:26,500 because, in a prison, the inmates are settled. 20 00:01:26,500 --> 00:01:30,233 We have court appearances, visitation, church services. 21 00:01:30,233 --> 00:01:32,733 So there's a lot of activity. 22 00:01:32,733 --> 00:01:37,433 This facility was originally designed for less than 1,200 inmates. 23 00:01:37,433 --> 00:01:41,133 However, on a daily basis, we will have way over 1,500. 24 00:01:41,133 --> 00:01:46,100 Sometimes, we will have four or five, six and seven inmates in a cell designed for two 25 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:47,933 people. 26 00:01:47,933 --> 00:01:51,966 We see inmates return on a very regular basis. 27 00:01:51,966 --> 00:01:56,466 Recidivism is probably around 50 to 60 percent. 28 00:01:56,466 --> 00:02:00,900 I try to, at least on a weekly basis, just walk through the jail. 29 00:02:00,900 --> 00:02:05,466 They want my time, they want my attention, and they will flag me down and ask me questions. 30 00:02:05,466 --> 00:02:06,466 MAN: We're fighting five men to a cell around here. 31 00:02:06,466 --> 00:02:07,900 Toilet is messed up. 32 00:02:07,900 --> 00:02:09,233 TREY OLIVER: Well, some places got seven men to a cell. 33 00:02:09,233 --> 00:02:11,166 MAN: Yes, sir. 34 00:02:11,166 --> 00:02:12,333 Absolutely. 35 00:02:12,333 --> 00:02:15,033 TREY OLIVER: Consider yourself lucky. 36 00:02:15,033 --> 00:02:19,333 Obviously, in a hostile work environment like this, we don't have people knocking down our 37 00:02:19,333 --> 00:02:20,666 door to work for us. 38 00:02:20,666 --> 00:02:22,766 So we always are short-staffed. 39 00:02:22,766 --> 00:02:26,766 And, sometimes, you're looking at one floor officer will be responsible for anywhere from 40 00:02:26,766 --> 00:02:30,066 150 to 300 individuals. 41 00:02:30,066 --> 00:02:34,166 The mentally ill poses a number of problems for us. 42 00:02:34,166 --> 00:02:39,133 We feel very strongly that anyone suffering from a serious mental illness shouldn't be 43 00:02:39,133 --> 00:02:40,366 in a county jail. 44 00:02:40,366 --> 00:02:42,666 However, that happens on a regular basis. 45 00:02:42,666 --> 00:02:47,666 Because the state hospital is so backed up, there's no place for these people to go. 46 00:02:49,633 --> 00:02:53,033 When Alabama closed our only regional hospital, we saw an immediate doubling of our mental 47 00:02:54,100 --> 00:02:56,200 health population. 48 00:02:56,200 --> 00:03:00,133 We will see the same mentally ill person arrested for the same charge in the same location by 49 00:03:01,533 --> 00:03:05,233 the same police officer three, four and five times. 50 00:03:05,233 --> 00:03:08,066 This is not a problem that we can arrest ourselves out of. 51 00:03:08,066 --> 00:03:11,933 They need to be in a facility to where they can receive around-the-clock care. 52 00:03:11,933 --> 00:03:16,133 Whoever was behind the closing of the mental health hospitals, if they thought that was 53 00:03:16,133 --> 00:03:18,566 a good idea, I challenge them on that. 54 00:03:18,566 --> 00:03:23,566 They were concerned at the time that the mentally ill were being warehoused in these hospitals. 55 00:03:24,433 --> 00:03:26,533 Well, I got news for everybody. 56 00:03:26,533 --> 00:03:31,000 The mentally ill are now being warehoused in county jails across this country. 57 00:03:32,900 --> 00:03:36,800 My name is Trey Oliver, and this is my Brief But Spectacular take on life here at Metro 58 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:39,733 Jail in Mobile, Alabama. 59 00:03:39,733 --> 00:03:42,400 JUDY WOODRUFF: And we thank you for that perspective. 60 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:47,400 Tonight's Brief But Spectacular was produced in collaboration with Jason Johnson. 61 00:03:48,266 --> 00:03:49,500 He's a reporter for Lagniappe. 62 00:03:49,500 --> 00:03:52,166 That's a weekly paper in Mobile, Alabama. 63 00:03:52,166 --> 00:03:57,166 You can find a special episode with Johnson on our Web site at PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief.