Training

For Immediate Release
April 2, 2023

MCTXSheriff Jail Division Increases Mental Health Training for Employees

A Sergeant from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Jail Division attended a course to become a trainer for the Jail Mental Health Officer course. The member returned and created a course for our Jail Division staff that will appropriately supplement the mental health-centric training employees have already received.

The Sheriff’s Office is proud to report we have completed our first Jail Mental Health Officer course, where members of our jail staff were trained in the key mental health issues of their daily operations within a jail setting. These issues included inmates challenged by intellectual developmental disorders and or mental health signs/symptoms as they intersect with the criminal justice system.

Particular topics included how to better understand the impact of incarceration on inmates with mental health challenges, communication & de-escalation techniques to reduce the chances for use-of-force incidents, suicidal inmates and their recognizable predictors, and how to achieve the best care for the person in crisis. The course also placed emphasis on scenario-based training to put staff members into real-word situations they would encounter in the jail environment.

Additionally, there was a section involving detention officer care to help the officer who may go through a traumatic event due to a work-related incident.
This was a successful, collaborative training effort and we would like to thank our MCSO CIT Unit, MCSO Employee Mental Health Unit, Tri-County Behavioral Healthcare, Wellpath Care, and the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office.

Photo during scenario-based training involving verbal de-escalation techniques.   

Group photo of the seventeen jail staff members involved in taking the mental health officer course.

Information Source
Specialist Thomas Hudson
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office
Administrative Services Division

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