Bibb County Sheriff David Davis wants the county government to put more public safety funds toward mental health support for local incarcerated people.

While Davis said he appreciates the jail’s existing partnership with River Edge Behavioral Health, he said it’s not enough to serve the growing number of people with mental health issues who “can sometimes be disruptive” at the Bibb County Jail.

“We need to do a little bit more in the jail for mental health,” Davis said. “Our contract with River Edge is really good, and River Edge is doing us great work, but they’re not here all the time, like overnight and sometimes on the weekend, so we’re going to ask them to provide a little bit more service for us, and obviously that’s going to cost a little bit more money.”

The number of people with mental health disorders in the Bibb County Jail rose from about 30-35% in 2025, to around 35-40% in 2026, according to Parrin Cowan, the jail’s in-reach program director employed by River Edge Behavioral Health.

“We made 905 inmate contacts (in January), not necessarily 905 different people, but we had contact with inmates at least 905 times,” she said.

The overall jail population has also increased, even though the county allocated $500,000 last year to decrease it. There were 1,061 people detained at the jail as of Feb. 4, and 1,018 on June. 10, 2025, when Miller announced a plan that was supposed to release 150 people on ankle monitors at no cost, in an effort to cut the jail population. The jail’s capacity is 966.

Davis said he was only aware of around 70 people who’ve been released on free monitors since the program began. He blamed the delay on “an administrative and bureaucratic process.”

Staffing, cost, psychological barriers

River Edge Behavioral Health currently has two individual mental health clinicians and a group counselor for therapy sessions with detainees. As part of their judiciary in-reach program, there’s also a case manager who gives people resources before their release and a nurse who handles medicines, Cowan said.

If a detainee was never diagnosed with a mental health disorder prior to being booked in the Bibb County Jail, they will receive psychological care only if they ask for it. They can confidentially request treatment via digital kiosks in the jail blocks.

“They come to River Edge because they want to, not because someone is forcing them to unless it’s court order, and then there’s a whole different ball game,” Cowan said. “In order to get mental health services, you have to have a desire to get the treatment.”

However, people with certain mental health disorders don’t always know they may need treatment, which is called anosognosia, according to Cleveland Clinic, a nonprofit research and medical center.

“It’s extremely common with mental health conditions like schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease,” Cleveland Clinic said. “This condition isn’t dangerous on its own, but people with it are much more likely to avoid or resist treatment for their other health conditions.”

High healthcare costs also can prevent people from seeking care before being arrested. Violence disproportionately affects residents in low-income areas, according to records analyzed by The Telegraph from the Bibb County coroner’s and sheriff’s offices.

For those with a diagnosis and others who request mental health treatment while booked, the small team of clinicians meets with each person on their case load once per month, according to Cowan.

Her staff holds individual and group therapy sessions at the jail from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. They do “rounds in the infirmary” on weekends, Cowan said.

“And if it’s something where it’s an emergency situation, then the jail contacts me directly, and then I handle it from there,” she said.

But Davis wants clinicians at the jail 24/7, he told The Telegraph.

“That also points to needed staff from River Edge,” Davis said. “That might be a high ask, even for them to be able to provide that, but we want to kind of work toward that goal.”

How much money Bibb County Jail puts toward mental health

Cass Hatcher, CEO of River Edge, said he’s working with Davis to make more staffing happen, but it’s up to Davis to request increased funding from Macon-Bibb County Government, which commissioners must then vote on.

“We’re making some revisions to share access, to look at some extended hours, some other things…,” Hatcher said. “Then basically, maybe a psychiatrist and to have a registered nurse.”

Hatcher said he and Davis will submit public safety funding proposals to the Macon-Bibb County Government ahead of its upcoming fiscal budget cycle, which commissioners usually vote on in June. The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office can then decide how to use those funds.

The sheriff’s office allocated less than 1% of its roughly $56.1 million budget toward its partnership with River Edge during the 2023-2024 fiscal year, according to a professional service agreement obtained by The Telegraph through Georgia’s Open Records Act.

The sheriff’s office, which oversees the jail, agreed to pay about $525,000 to River Edge that year, according to the document.

There was a slight increase in funding the partnership since then, but “it stayed basically the same,” Hatcher told The Telegraph. River Edge “absorbed,” or paid for, some of the increase.