Protestors have gathered on the steps of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors' office in Oakland for a multi-day rally demanding more attention and resources be paid to mental health.
There is a growing mental health crisis in the county, the demonstrators say, and people are not being properly diagnosed until something drastic happens.
"If we had effective outreach into these encampments, which are channels into the jail and to the emergency room, I think we could do so much better," said Margot Dashiell, with the East Bay Supportive Housing Collaborative, an Oakland nonprofit.
Specifically, protestors are arguing that too much funding is being allotted for the county sheriff's office and for Santa Rita Jail, which has a notorious reputation for violence and even deaths among those being held there.
"How are 20 more deputies, 200 more deputies, going to change that culture?" Micky Duxberry, with the Interfaith Coalition for Justice In Our Jails, a local nonprofit, asked. "It's very distressing."
The demonstration began Sunday, as a band played and speakers told their stories of loved ones they've lost to mental health issues.
According to Ducksberry, 17 people have died of suicide in Santa Rita Jail in the last 5 years.
“You've got to do something, you can't just keep responding as if it was business as usual when people are not only suffering, they are dying in the jail," she said.
The protest will continue until Tuesday's meeting of the Board of Supervisors.
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