RICHMOND, Va. — In the latest episode of “Untold – A WTVR Podcast,” host Catie Beck sits down with Mike Wade, the former sheriff of Henrico County.
Wade spent two decades running one of the largest jail systems in the state, and has been credited with implementing one of the nation's best substance abuse treatment programs for inmates.
He’s been retired for several years, but he told Catie there’s one issue that still keeps him up at night, and he doesn’t think enough is being done to address it.
“I wish politicians would start talking about mental illness and how they can solve it and what they can do,” Wade said. “I’m really, really surprised that we’re in an election year and I haven’t heard a single politician talk about it.”
One of the biggest problems, according to Wade, is that too many people with serious psychiatric issues are still being brought to local jails.
“Getting somebody into a hospital is very difficult,” said Wade. “In order to get a TDO (temporary detention order), you have to name the location where you’re taking them to, and that’s always been the problem. It used to be eight hours that you had to get that, then it went to 16, this is how the General Assembly’s dealt with it. Now it reads 11:59pm on the third day after it [the TDO] is issued.”
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