In rural Fayette County, Texas, we have certainly had challenges, but also unexpected successes in our planning process. Data development has been the most significant challenge because of relatively old automation, if any. Nonetheless, we have been able to collect data about jail detainees, a housing inventory, court based information and information about individuals on community supervision who have been identified as having psychiatric illness.

Our planning effort is somewhat unique in that we are targeting both adults and juveniles. The only offense exclusion agreed upon relates to violence. Wonderful byproducts of our planning around a court based strategy have included certification of several law enforcement officers as mental health specialists, the likelihood of funding for both a specialized probation case load and training for defense attorneys, and implementation of tele-medicine for better psychiatric coverage in our small rural jail.