AUSTIN, Texas -- The Travis County Sheriff's Office met with community leaders in Austin on Saturday to explain the Sandra Bland Act and how the agency will implement it in its jails.
"It's a shame that the jails have become the de facto mental health hospital in almost all of our communities, so we need to start taking action to reverse that,” said Maj. Wes Priddy of the Travis County Sheriff’s Office.
In June, Gov. Greg Abbott signed the Sandra Bland Act into law. Bland was a black woman who was found dead from an apparent suicide in a Waller County jail just days after being arrested following a routine traffic stop.
The Sandra Bland Act mandates that jails divert people with mental health and substance abuse issues to treatment.
The law went into effect Friday.