Olney Judge Warns New State Bail Law Leaves Dangerous Gap

Young County Justice of the Peace Joey Stewart, who also serves as Olney’s municipal judge, says he has seen a sharp rise in arrests of mentally ill people at the Young County Jail—an uptick that has exposed what he calls a dangerous loophole in Proposition 3, the statewide ballot measure Texas voters approved this month.

Proposition 3 bars judges from granting bail to defendants accused of certain violent felonies. But the amendment, championed as a tough-on-crime measure, does not give magistrates the authority to require mental-health treatment or confinement for defendants who are clearly mentally ill, unstable, or a danger to themselves or the community.

“We’re having a spike in mental- health individuals during registration,” an accused’s first appearance in court, Judge Stewart said. “Jails are turning into mental health facilities, and these inmates are not getting the care they need.”

Judge Stewart said lawmakers inadvertently left out an entire population that routinely cycles through county jails: low-level offenders with serious mental illness.

“Judges can now deny bail to violent repeat offenders, but we still can’t require a mentally ill person to be confined and treated before release,” he said. “It’s a loophole that puts the public at risk—and puts that person at risk.”

The Texas Observer reported that while conservatives pushed Prop 3 as a needed clampdown on violent criminals, mental-health and jail reform advocates warned that the measure would worsen an already collapsing system.

Krishnaveni Gundu, executive director of the Texas Jail Project, told the Observer that Texas’ mental health infrastructure is so underfunded that jails have become the state’s primary holding centers for people with mental illnesses. With 34 percent of Texas inmates living with a diagnosed mental-health disorder, she argued Prop. 3 is a political distraction rather than a real solution.

“We are opposed to Prop. 3 because this is going to overload an already overburdened pre-trial detention system,” Ms. Gundu said. “Because of overcrowding, the jail system is already the largest warehouse of people with mental illness in the state of Texas. We cannot keep punishing our way out of this mental health crisis.”

Data from Mental Health America ranks Texas 51st in the nation—last when counting D.C.—for access to mental-health care despite $1.6 billion in state mental healthcare spending in 2024.

Judge Stewart said the crisis is hitting home in Young County.

In Texas, an arrestee’s initial appearance before a judge is called magistration. During that appearance, a judge informs an arrested person of the charges against them and advises them of their constitutional rights, including the right to counsel.

During magistration, Judge Stewart and Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Jason Hearne routinely face people exhibiting delusions, psychosis, extreme agitation, or violent behavior. Jailers often cannot safely remove them from their cells.

“We’re having to read them their rights through the bean hole because they’re violent,” Judge Stewart said. “They’re not making sense. They’re erratic, sometimes belligerent.”

Texas law allows judges to add a mental-health condition to a defendant’s bond, requiring them to seek evaluation or treatment. But there is a catch: the defendant must be released on a personal recognizance (PR) bond for the condition to take effect.

“That means I’d have to release someone who is schizophrenic, homeless, and unstable just to order them to go get treatment,” Judge Stewart said. “And we all know they won’t go. We can issue a warrant after they fail to comply, but they’re homeless—we won’t find them.”

Even when a judge orders an emergency evaluation, state law only requires a facility to evaluate the person—not to keep them.

“Nine times out of ten, they let them go,” Judge Stewart said. “They just send them right home.”

Helen Farabee Centers, the region’s mental-health provider, cannot intervene unless a person expresses a desire to self-harm, he said, adding that many mentally ill inmates refuse services, either because they distrust providers or lack the capacity to understand.

“Some people are so far gone—bipolar, schizophrenic, off medications— there’s nothing we can do,” he said. “Jail is the only place that will take them, but jail is not where they need to be.”

He described a recent case involving a man he believes has untreated schizophrenia: “He wasn’t high. He was just gone. He needs medication and treatment. But I can’t force him to get help, and I can’t safely put him on the street.”

Most arrests involving mentally ill individuals begin with minor infractions such as criminal trespass, disorderly conduct, public intoxication, or creating a public disturbance.

But once they enter the jail, the system has no clear pathway out.

A mentally incompetent defendant cannot be adjudicated, yet the county cannot keep them indefinitely. If prosecutors decline to proceed, the individual is released back into the community— untreated, unstable, and likely to be arrested again.

“They just end up living life the way they are,” Judge Stewart said. “It’s no way to live. And it’s not safe for the community.”

Judge Stewart said the Texas Legislature must act quickly to repair the gap left by Prop. 3.

“We need the Legislature to give judges more teeth,” he said. “We need the authority to place these individuals into a mental-health facility for three to five days, get them stabilized, and allow doctors to decide if they should stay longer.”

Local officials—including Young County Judge Win Graham and Jack County Judge Keith Umphress —raised similar concerns in 2023, and lobbied the Legislature for funding for a longterm, bi-county mobile mental health team and more jail resources but were unsuccessful. Without more resources, the judges and county law enforcement officials argued, rural counties remain stuck between two bad options: Release mentally ill people who may be dangerous, or hold them in jail, where they cannot receive treatment.

“Right now, we are putting mentally ill people in jail and hoping nothing bad happens,” Judge Stewart said. “It’s not working. We need help.”