On September 12, 2022, 37-year-old Derrick Richard Allen was booked into Jefferson County Jail. Just a week later, on September 19, he was declared deceased. His cause of death is currently unknown. The address of the jail is 5030 Hwy 69 in Beaumont, Texas, 77705.

Do Mentally Disabled Inmates in County and Municipal Jails Get the Health Care Services they Need?

A research team for a Texas radio broadcasting station worked for two years to investigate whether mentally ill patients get the treatment services they need. This research was conducted after it was discovered that in Texas, the state itself does not track details about whether inmates in local jails receive the mental health care available to them at state hospitals.

Within the past 20 years, there has been a 38% increase in the number of people found mentally incompetent to stand trial in a criminal case. When individuals face criminal charges but are then found mentally incompetent to participate in their own defense, they are typically sent to a state hospital to receive restorative mental health treatment. The goal is to return them to jail when they are found to be competent.

The biggest discovery made during this investigation was that the number of people awaiting mental health treatment hit a record high in October 2021.

Learn more in this ongoing series.

Helping Texas inmates who have been detained in county or city jails in the state is the purpose of this website. Accusing institutions or people of engaging in misdeeds is never intended on this website.

–Guest Contributor