Douglas County commissioners recently confirmed their commitment to reducing the number of county jail inmates with serious mental illness, but a public meeting on the topic last week confirmed that coming up with the right solution may take some time.

This conversation started with the realization that a growing number of inmates, and especially female inmates, soon would require the expansion of the Douglas County Jail. For many years, county officials have known that a large number of jail inmates suffer from serious mental illness, and, with that in mind, they decided to seek creative solutions to the jail’s space needs. Reducing the number of jail inmates with mental illness wouldn’t eliminate the need for an expansion, but it would be a step in the right direction for those individuals and the community as a whole.

That’s still the goal, Sheriff Ken McGovern told those at last week’s public meeting, which also featured a presentation by two researchers from Kansas University’s School of Social Welfare. After examining programs in other communities, the researchers offered some recommendations about a community crisis center and a mental health court.

The court would offer an avenue to divert people with mental illness into appropriate treatment rather than just sending them to jail. A center for people experiencing a mental health crisis is envisioned as a community resource that would serve not only people who have come in contact with law enforcement but those who have not. The need for those services has been a community issue for some time, but funding such a program poses challenges. Because Kansas has not expanded Medicaid coverage, insurance reimbursement for mental health programs is limited, and state funding for community centers such as Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center has been severely cut. Building a mental health project into a funding proposal to pay for a jail expansion could be a reasonable option.

McGovern said last week that officials hope to provide more specifics about potential projects at the next public meeting, which will be scheduled during December. It would be nice to see this process moving a little faster, but county law enforcement and mental health officials deserve kudos for their efforts to come up with a creative solution that meets the community’s needs.