What are the chances one of these prisoners will end up here again if they have a mental illness?
"With seriously mentally ill prisoners, they went back to prison 70% to 80% of the time," said Dr. Jim Waterman, Kern County Mental Health Director. His job is to rehabilitate those with mental illnesses and drug addictions.
Since prison realignment began in October, county mental health has received 100 additional patients.
"We were thinking there would be 100 to 200 in the first year so it's ahead of schedule," said Waterman.
The bigger problem is the lack of communication by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
"Getting records is about 40%, which is really bad," said Waterman.
Not getting medical records from the CDCR means Waterman and his staff don't know how patients will act if they have a psychotic episode. "We haven't had any disasters yet, but there are counties where murders have happened," he said.
Waterman says dealing with patients from prison rather than jail means they're tougher and less likely to cooperate with treatment. That problem spills out onto the streets.
"At this point when it comes to a need, people are going to become a little aggressive when they are hungry, when they don't have resources, finances or a place to stay. So there's an element of aggressive behavior at this point," said Crisis Services Manager Jason Meek, who adds hostility at the Bakersfield Homeless Shelter has increased and part of it is due to mental instability.
"There are several clients that have mental health issues and haven't been on meds for several weeks," he said.
