Three criminal justice reform groups are calling for sweeping changes at the Bexar County jail after the deaths of 92 people in custody in the past six-and-a-half years.
The groups released a detailed plan that calls for expanding programs that keep people accused of low-level offenses out of jail. The proposals include conducting more mental health and substance-use assessments during booking, expanding cite-and-release policies so police can issue citations instead of making arrests for certain misdemeanors, and opening a diversion center where people could receive treatment instead of going to jail.
All of Us or None Texas, ACT 4 SA, and the Texas Jail Project announced the framework at a news conference Tuesday outside of the Bexar County Courthouse.
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“The population counts in our county (jail) has to drop,” said Steve Huerta, executive director of All of Us or None Texas. “It is contributing to the loss of life. It is not something that we can ignore anymore.”
Steve Huerta, executive director of All of Us or None Texas, speaks outside the Bexar County Courthouse on Tuesday.
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Auanich’ipiri Rojas, the fire keeper for the group Kalpulli Ayolopaktzin, burns copal, a tree resin, during a press conference outside the Bexar County Courthouse on Tuesday. According to Rojas, burning copal represents “unfolding of the directions.”
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The causes of death for the 92 people who died have varied, but many deaths have involved overdoses, drug or alcohol withdrawal, and suicide. Those deaths have intensified calls for better screening when people enter the jail and more treatment for those with mental illness or substance-abuse disorders.
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The groups also want more public scrutiny of jail operations. They propose an independent board that would review each jail death and a public dashboard tracking deaths, medical screenings and staffing levels.
They’re asking Commissioners Court, which controls the county’s purse strings and would have to vote to fund major projects like a diversion center, to declare jail deaths a public health emergency.
“The Bexar County jail is now, effectively, the default mental health and substance use treatment institution of last resort for the entire region, a role for which it is structurally unsuited, chronically under-resourced, and legally accountable for failures that result in death,” the 113-page plan says.
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Solutions
The plan is critical of county commissioners’ decision in the fall to bring on University Health, the county-owned hospital system, to take over mental health assessments at the jail’s intake center in October 2025. The Center for Health Care Services, the county’s mental health authority, previously handled mental health evaluations when people are booked into the jail.
The change only “transferred unresolved problems to a different provider,” the report said. The groups want Bexar County to rewrite its contract with University Health to set clear targets for alcohol-withdrawal screening, suicide-risk assessments and other measures — and impose financial penalties if the hospital system misses them.
The framework also calls for expanding SA CORE, a San Antonio program that responds to people experiencing mental health crises before they are booked into jail. The program handles roughly 15% of mental health-related 911 calls in San Antonio, according to the report.
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Ananda Tomas, executive director of Act 4 SA, speaks outside the Bexar County Courthouse on Tuesday.
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Matthew Stevison, with Act 4 SA, holds a sign during a press conference outside the Bexar County Courthouse on Tuesday.
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It’s intended to reduce the number of unnecessary arrests — and therefore people who get booked into jail in the first place — and connect people in need with mental health care.
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The groups want Bexar County to commit to opening a diversion center if an ongoing, city-backed feasibility study finds the project workable. They want city and county officials to choose a location and decide how to pay for it within a year of the study’s completion.
Such a facility would allow some people who are accused of low-level misdemeanors, such as trespassing, to go directly to receiving treatment for mental health issues or substance-use problems
“Access to medical care is one of the few rights that incarcerated people have but it’s clear that right is being violated daily in the Bexar County jail,” said Krish Gundu, co-founder and executive director of the Texas Jail Project. “Until we can find answers to some of these questions, we are not going to be able to reduce and end jail deaths.”
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The report estimates that making no changes to the jail could cost the county as much as $437 million over the next five years. That projection includes overtime for deputies who patrol the jail, payments to other counties that house Bexar County inmates, hospital costs and litigation involving inmates and families who have sued the county.
The groups claim that carrying out their recommendations would cost between $30 million and $44 million over five years.
Lydia Leos stands by a wreath during a press conference outside the Bexar County Courthouse on Tuesday. Leos’ son died at the Bexar County Jail in 2020.
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