Sheriff Tom Dart Speaks Out Against Mental Health Center Closures

By Samantha Abernethy in News on Sep 6, 2012 9:20PM

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Activists have been fighting for months to push the city to keep mental health centers open, and now they've found an ally in Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. He spoke out against the closing of mental health centers at an event in Logan Square, home to one of the shuttered mental health centers.

Earlier this year, Dart described the Cook County prison system as a psych ward. Dart said at the Logan Square event that one-third of Cook County inmates, about 3,300, are mentally ill.

The Chicago Reporter's Muckrakers blog writes:

"I'm the largest provider of mental health services in the country," Dart told an audience at Episcopal Church Nuestra Señora in Logan Square.

He was at the church to speak out against the closure of half the city's mental health clinics earlier this year. He said the criminal justice system ends up picking up the tab when mental health services are cut.

"We have limited money. We know that," Dart said. "But when we don't fund services, let me tell you what happens. They end up in my jail."

Dart has proven himself to be something of a maverick. At the height of the foreclosure crisis, he refused to enforce evictions. Dart mulled a run for mayor, but he cited family obligations as cause for dropping out. It didn't help that Rahm Emanuel's fundraising machine was eclipsing candidates before they could open bank accounts.