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Hampton Roads Regional Jail to receive funding for inmate mental health program

Posted at 8:42 PM, Dec 12, 2016
and last updated 2016-12-12 21:13:40-05

PORTSMOUTH, Va. – The Hampton Roads Regional Jail is one of six Virginia facilities getting grant money for an inmate mental health pilot program.

Governor McAuliffe announced on Monday that the award will provide services to inmates with mental illnesses in local or regional jails.

The Governor’s Task Force on Improving Mental Health Services and Crisis Response proposed the establishment of mental health pilot projects as a means of establishing evidence-based behavioral health services in local and regional jails.

The grants were approved by the Criminal Justice Services Board at its meeting on December 8.

The finds for the grants were appropriated to the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) by the General Assembly during the 2016 Session.

The six pilot projects approved begin operation on January 1, 2017 and are located in: the City of Richmond; Chesterfield County; the Hampton Roads Regional Jail; the Prince William-Manassas Regional Jail; the Middle River Regional Jail; and the Western Virginia Regional Jail.

Hampton Roads Regional Jail was awarded $939,435, which was the most out of the six awarded.

On Monday the Justice Department also opened an investigation into the conditions at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail.

Interim Jail Superintendent/Norfolk Sheriff Bob McCabe told News 3 in September that about 70 to 80% of the jail’s population needs some type of medical treatment.