HOUSTON -- Local 2 Investigates uncovers a system of care that leaves many in our city without critical long-term treatment, all while taxpayers are footing enormous medical bills for what critics say is nothing more than a Band-Aid.

Local 2 Investigative reporter Robert Arnold spent the past six months researching the mental health care system in Harris County and explains why many of those suffering from mental illness don't get help until the police are called.

Earlier this month, SWAT officers surround the home of mentally ill man in the Woodland Heights subdivision. Police were called when Michael Gable threw a brick through one of his neighbor's windows.

After hours of stalemate negotiations and using a motorized ram breaking out windows to get the Gable's attention, officers finally lobbed tear gas into the home. Within minutes Gable surrendered and was taken away in an ambulance. He spent his 54th birthday in the county's Neuro-Psychiatric Center.

"It had to come to this with the SWAT team," said Gable's sister, Rosemarie Barnes. "I mean this is ridiculous."

Barnes wasn't angry with police. She was angry it took this use of force to finally get her brother help.

"He needs it. We've been trying to do this for a long time," said Barnes.

Volumes of indecipherable manifestos found inside Gable's home show years of mental illness. Since 2002, police have been called to Gable's home 17 times for a range of petty crimes. Before this incident, Gable records show Gable has been to the Harris County jail, the Neuro-Psychiatric center, twice to the Harris County Psychiatric Center and twice to Rusk State Hospital. Each time, he was stabilized, then released with no follow-up care, only to drift back into psychosis.

"The last social worker, whoever it was at the hospital, told my brother he's surprised that (the doctor) is letting him go," said Barnes.

"I think he's an example of a system that's broken," said Lt. Michael Lee, head of HPD's Mental Health Unit.

Lee said months before SWAT officer were called, he and his officers tried to peacefully lure Gable out of his red and black fortress to serve him with a mental health warrant. Lee said the problem is mental health warrants are civil, not criminal, and the law doesn't give police clear-cut permission to go into someone's house to serve one.

"That's something we wish, one way or another, they say either you can or you can't," said Lee.

Gable was sent back to Rusk State Hospital for a third time. What happened to Gable is a common example of a mental health care system suffering from a critical lack of resources and bed space. All of it forcing many of those with mental illness to get their first treatment only after they're arrested.

"We have too many people walking the street untreated and violent," said Lois Moore, chief administrator for the Harris County Psychiatric Center.

HCPC has 250 beds, but only enough money to operate 188 of those beds. Countywide, it's even worse. A study by the Mental Health Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County reports there are only 825 psychiatric beds for a county of more than four million.

"Folks are saying, 'Where do we place these folks? How do we address these folks? Why do they keep coming back?'" said Dr. Steve Schnee, the head of MHMRA.

"The problem is they can't access services if they're not in crisis," said Betsy Schwartz, the head of Mental Health America of Greater Houston. "We as taxpayers should be outraged."

That's because crisis care is the most expensive. MHA estimates it costs taxpayers between $25,000 and $35,000 per person for crisis care every year. That's because a lack of bed space and no long-term follow-up care when they leave the hospital forces those with mental illness to cycle through the system over and over again. In fact, 20 percent of the patients seen at the County's Neuro-Psychiatric Center last year had been there between two and 11 times in one year.

"Basically, what you're doing is spending all the resources you have on the same patient because they keep coming back," said Moore.

Like Gable's case, a lack of resources is also forcing the criminal justice system to take on a greater mental health role. HPD's Mental Health Unit transported more than 2,000 people for psychiatric treatment last year. Sixty of those calls involved people who had been picked up by police three or more times in one year. HPD also estimates 46 percent of its SWAT callouts last year dealt with someone who is mentally ill.

"The officers get frustrated, the department's frustrated, the leadership's frustrated and I can understand," said Lee.

Although police try to avoid it, with so few beds, many of those with mental illness picked up for petty crimes have nowhere else to go but the Harris County jail.

"We are criminalizing people with mental illness," said Schnee.

All of this leads to an overarching problem. The largest in-patient mental health care facility in the state is now the Harris County jail.

Texas ranks 47th in the nation when it comes to spending on mental health care.

A report from Mental Health America of Greater Houston shows more than 92,000 adults in Harris County have a serious mental illness and no insurance. MHA reports only about 18 percent received services.

More Information:

Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County
Anyone in a psychiatric emergency or in need of information can call 713-970-7000 or 866-970-4770.
If the person voluntarily seeks treatment, he or she may call or go to the Neuro-Psychiatric Center (MHMRA), located at 1502 Taub Loop, 713-970-7070, or Ben Taub General Hospital (HCHD), located at 1504 Taub Loop, 713-793-2000. Both of these facilities are in the Texas Medical Center.
The University of Texas Harris County Psychiatric Center
If you or someone you love needs help with mental illness or general counseling, please call our facility for a confidential assessment. We want to help you or assist you in locating the right source. We can be reached at 713-500-8800.