Tarrant County Mental Health Jail Diversion Center

If someone is suspected of a low-level, nonviolent crime, and displays signs of mental illness, police can bring that person to the diversion center instead of jail.

The Mental Health Jail Diversion Center offers treatment instead of jail time for people suspected of low-level, nonviolent crimes. The center didn't get any money in the latest county budget proposal.

The Tarrant County jail population has risen in recent years. Local activists asked county commissioners to apply fiscal conservatism to jail costs.

The Tarrant County Mental Health Jail Diversion Center is an effort to keep people with mental illness out of jail.

County jails make up the largest mental health system in Texas, according to the Texas Association of Counties.