A total of 166 people were incarcerated in the Geary County Detention Center this past Monday.

During an appearance on JC Now on the Talk of JC, KJCK AM, Whitebread said approximately 20 to 30 of those inmates need mental health assessments and medications. “And they’re cutting back at the state. We’re paying for them in the jail, and it’s costing us big money to keep those people in jail. Not only that they’re not out in society being positive citizens, which many of them could be if they had medication and were on their medication.”

Whitebread noted earlier in the week that 166 is an all time high for inmates in the county jail.

Much of the problem has been attributed to state funding cutbacks in the area of mental health.