The first phase of a decade-long effort to deal with the ever expanding need for medical and mental health beds at the jail is complete.
The jail has been a de facto facility to house people with mental health issues since the closing of Northwest Georgia Regional Hospital in 2011.
Floyd County Sheriff Tim Burkhalter said his staff was not prepared for the large influx of mentally ill inmates at the jail in the years after the regional mental health hospital closed after a round of state budget cuts.
âWe receive very little training in the jail school about how to deal with the mentally ill,â Burkhalter said.