What was the cause of death of 40-year-old Abdullahi Mohamed in Fort Worth, Texas? Mr. Mohamed had been an inmate at Tarrant County Jail for nine days when he was pronounced dead. The Medical Examiner ultimately reported that his cause of death was unknown and the jail only seemed to reveal that he had been recognized as possibly mentally ill.

The seriously mentally ill inmates in county and city jails throughout the U.S. were the subjects of research conducted in recent years. The following are some of the resulting statistics:

• 20% of the 744,600 prisoners in city and county jails had a serious mental illness, which totaled 149,000 that year. The number has only grown.
• Mentally ill inmates at a particular jail outside Texas were typically incarcerated longer than other prisoners, with the average inmate stay being 42 days except for the mentally ill, who stayed, on average, for 215 days.
• It costs more to house mentally ill prisoners than other prisoners. Psychiatric medications constitute a significant portion of the increased cost for the mentally ill.
• The challenge of behavioral management is another element of the high cost of housing mentally ill inmates.
• Compared to other prisoners, mentally ill inmates are more prone to commit suicide.

Learn more in Part 1 and Part 2 of this three-part series.

The aim of posts on this website is to provide help for county jail inmates in Texas, whether currently or formerly incarcerated. It is never intended to suggest that wrongdoing has occurred on the part of persons or entities.

–Guest Contributor