In Texas, there are 400 inmates at the Dallas County jail awaiting transfer to a state mental health facility, costing the county $13 million to fund their prison stays, Fox 4 News reported June 20.
There are 400 people on the transfer waitlist, some awaiting a bed for over two and a half years, according to the county commissioner.
There's another 400 waiting for transfer to Texas prisons, bringing the Dallas County jail population to 5,900, more than any other county.
"We just want to know why," John Price, Dallas County commissioner, told Fox 4. "Why are we being treated this way? It's not as though we're being reimbursed. Dallas taxpayers are picking up the tab. And at the end of the day, you're requiring us to swim by. You've put our hands behind us."
Mr. Price will voice his concerns about the waitlist at a commissioners court on June 21, where he will push for Dallas officials to find a place for the inmates who shouldn't be in Dallas to stay.