“Today’s report proves what I have said all along: you cannot divert your way out of a population that includes people with serious mental illness, complex medical needs, and safety risks our system was never built to accommodate. This Board looks forward to further dialogue with the Department of Mental Health to collaboratively and urgently brainstorm solutions for our most acute and vulnerable residents.
I thank Executive Director Wilford Pinkney Jr. and the Jail Closure Implementation Team (JCIT) for this analysis. It confirms that 1,887 individuals–nearly half the population at Men’s Central Jail—cannot be relocated anywhere else in our current system. These are people requiring single-cell housing, specialized mental health monitoring, or protection from threats to their safety. No amount of diversion programming changes that reality.
This report also shows that even with $2.71 billion invested across every required action identified, we still would not close Men’s Central Jail within five years. This is a fact based on current analyses and the public deserves that honesty.
I remain fully committed to reducing our jail population through diversion, treatment, and community-based care wherever it is safe and appropriate. But today’s data reinforces why I have called for a 21st century model of secure rehabilitation—one built for the population we actually have.
I look forward to JCIT’s September follow-up report and will keep pushing for a plan that is both compassionate and realistic.”