Mentally ill languish in Texas jails despite funding hike

Texas had the fourth-longest waits among states for inmates to receive psychiatric treatment, according to a 2016 survey by the Treatment Advocacy Center, a Virginia-based group dedicated to getting treatment for the mentally ill.

[...] Texas' average treatment delay has increased by more than 50 days, according to the state's own figures.

[...] far, the efforts have only helped to slow a worsening problem, not reverse its course.

Since ranking last in the nation in per resident mental health spending in 2009, Texas increased funding in recognition that it had a problem.

In 2015, during the last legislative session, lawmakers allocated an additional $50 million to pay for the treatment of non-inmate mentally ill patients at private hospitals, which would open up spots in state-run facilities that can treat mentally ill inmates.