The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office has a new booth at the Minnesota State Fair to create outreach in an effort to fight the opioid crisis.

Officials are giving out free pouches that allow people to dispose of their old medications safely.

Sheriff Rich Stanek said it’s a crucial conversation after 175-opioid related deaths in the county last year.

“That’s a lot of people and I think and we can do much better,” said Sheriff Stanek. “So a little public education, a little fun to go along with it, give them some options, whether it’s Narcan which is an opiate antidote reversal drug, or these drug disposal pouches. These are things people can do themselves in their own homes, and we think that’s really important.”

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Providing increased medication disposal options has been a key component in the Sheriff’s Office #NOverdose campaign.

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The prolonged detention of Raymond Traylor Jr., 28, has become the latest flash point in a long-running struggle between county and state officials over how to accommodate a growing number of jail inmates with serious mental illnesses.

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Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek delivered a check Saturday to the family on behalf of the Minnesota 100 Club.

Gomm was laid to rest Thursday after he was killed in an alleged attack by an inmate earlier this month at the facility in Stillwater.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections says he’s the first corrections officer to be killed while on duty.

Friday, DOC Commissioner Tom Roy addressed safety concerns and talked about next steps Friday morning, just one day after Gomm was laid to rest.

He repeated that his department has continued to ask the Legislature for more funding and support in the past few years.

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In response to the needs, this week the Hennepin County Board wisely moved to expand efforts to address the shortage. The board unanimously approved spending $200,000 to study converting a building at the workhouse in Plymouth into the county’s first secure mental health facility. Earlier, the board set aside $13 million for the project.

The new “mental health stabilization center” would house inmates and other residents for shorter-term stays. It would take those who couldn’t get into the Anoka-Metro Regional Treatment Center, are ready to leave the county jail or are temporarily at Hennepin Healthcare.

Hennepin County’s plan to provide more beds is a step in the right direction. But even when the new facility is up and running, it alone will not solve the larger problem in the metro area and across the state. The state of Minnesota and other counties also must do more to provide appropriate treatment for the mentally ill.

A 2016 report from the state’s legislative auditor found that jails often failed to perform mandatory checks of inmates, putting them at risk of self-inflicted injury or suicide or endangering others. The report noted that there had been more than 50 suicides and 770 suicide attempts in Minnesota jails since 2000.

For several years, Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek has rightly urged the state and county to provide adequate facilities and treatment rather than warehousing those suffering from mental illness in jails. Stanek estimates that up to one quarter of the 35,000 to 40,000 admitted to his jail each year have some form of mental illness. And many of them get worse while in custody because jails can’t provide care or treatment as they await court hearings.

The new secure facility will serve the most seriously ill and potentially violent patients. However, Hennepin County has been working to provide a range of improved services for several years.

In late 2016, Hennepin County leaders approved bringing psychologists into the downtown Minneapolis jail complex to evaluate nonviolent offenders who screen positive for psychiatric problems. That allowed them to release dozens of inmates into court-monitored treatment programs. The idea is to help break the cycle of arrest, incarceration and release that has trapped many people with psychiatric disorders in the criminal justice system for relatively minor offenses.

In addition, the county is working with community organizations and Hennepin Healthcare to create a mental health and substance abuse residential treatment program in south Minneapolis.

In Minnesota and nationally, there is growing recognition that many offenders with mental illnesses belong in treatment, not in jail. It’s encouraging that Hennepin County is stepping up to make that happen.

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“Right now, anyone diagnosed with a severe mental health condition cannot be charged with a misdemeanor,” Stanek said. “But, if they are arrested on a misdemeanor they are brought to jail and sometimes they sit there for months, not charged with a crime, while they wait for a bed to open at a secure mental health facility and that is not fair to them or anyone because they need treatment and they cannot get that in jail.”

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State law requires that if a judge deems an inmate to be mentally ill then that inmate must be moved from jail to a psychiatric bed within 48 hours. But Stanek said many people who should be getting treatment for serious mental health problems are instead sitting in jail.

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“It is an honor to help lead this organization that ensures that every Sheriff and their employees have a voice in the national public safety conversation,” said Stanek. “Not only are we representing Sheriffs, but we are ensuring that best practices are shared nationally among agencies of all sizes to help meet the ever-changing demands of law enforcement.”

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