CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Inmates battling mental health issues will soon have a new treatment space inside the Chesapeake City Jail.
Chesapeake Sheriff Dave Rosado, whose deputies operate the jail, says construction on a new mental health therapeutic unit is likely only weeks away with an estimated finish time in the spring.
He recently took News 3 into the space designated for the renovation.
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“The jail has been a dumping ground for people with mental health issues and crisis," said Rosado. “We have about 45 percent of our inmate population that have mental health crisis.”
Rosado said it amounted to around 1,500 inmates with mental health concerns in 2024.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, around 44 percent of local jail inmates have a history of mental illness — roughly double the percentage of the general U.S. adult population.
Rosado, who joined the Sheriff's Office as a deputy in the jail in 2001, says that previously, Chesapeake would send inmates battling mental illness to the Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Portsmouth for treatment. But the regional jail closed in April and a new plan emerged.
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Chesapeake Mayor Rick West announced the addition of a mental health unit in the city's jail during his State of the City address earlier this year.
Rosado says the new space will have medical stations and offices for case workers to meet with inmates. He says construction will also take safety into consideration.
The hope is giving inmates the proper treatment for their mental health will keep them from reoffending once they're released, as Rosado says so often happens.
“They come in, they go out," he told News 3. ”They don’t continue the medication they’ve been given and they don’t continue their therapy.”
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Rosado says construction of the mental health unit will cost in the neighborhood of $2 million.
“We had a $6 million contract per year with the regional jail so now that that has ended, we’re saving money," he said, adding that the space will also make room in the jail's other units by shifting the inmates battling mental illness into the new unit.
He also hopes having a state-of-the-art mental health facility on site will take pressure off his deputies.
“There’s a lot of different programs because people have different needs," said Rosado. "We are creating solutions in our jail for people in our care and that’s my number one priority at this point.”
