The Denver Post just dropped a tear-jerker about the shutdown of Arapahoe County’s ‘Safer’ mental health program in jails—a smart initiative that aimed to treat inmates without just tossing them back into society like boomerangs.
The Bullet Point Brief
- A productive jail-based mental health program ends when pandemic funding predictably runs out… and somehow it’s all Trump’s fault.
- The program depended on temporary COVID money (you know, that magical forest of free cash from Uncle Sam).
- Local officials lament they can’t continue a good thing without sustainable funding—yet still built half their operations on funny money.
- Federal funds flowed during COVID like cheap beer at a frat party; now the hangover hits and everyone’s blaming the bartender.
- Jailers and community groups praised the program for reducing recidivism—but forgot to build a post-COVID plan.
My Take
This one gets me hot under the collar, because yes—I fully back mental health support in our jails. We need less revolving-door chaos and more actual healing. But don’t come crying when your house built on Monopoly money collapses and blame it on President Trump because you blew through pandemic slush funds like kids at a candy store.
Let me say this louder for those still writing sob pieces: don’t stand up permanent programs using temporary money. That’s Government Finance 101—and apparently nobody passed the class. This isn’t Trump’s mess—it’s yours, geniuses. Want real reform? Fund it like adults. Until then, save the crocodile tears for someone who didn’t see this train wreck coming with binoculars.
