Sheriff Adrian Garcia delivers keynote at social work awards breakfast

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia will deliver the keynote address, "The Harris County Jail: The Largest Mental Health Provider in Texas" at 9 a.m., Friday (March 2) at the University of Houston (UH), Rockwell Pavilion, M.D. Anderson Library. Media are welcome to attend the keynote address. A question-and-answer period will follow.

The keynote is part of the 12th Annual Greater Houston Area Social Work Awards Breakfast hosted by the UH Graduate College of Social Work (GCSW). The annual event honors the best and the brightest in the profession and celebrates social workers in the greater Houston area.

"People are very surprised to learn that the Harris County Jail is the largest mental health facility in the state of Texas," UH GCSW Dean Ira Colby said. "The Harris County Sheriff's Office and the city of Houston Police Department both recognize that diverting individuals with mental health issues to appropriate agencies serves the city and the county. Those of us in Houston and Harris county are very fortunate to have the leadership in place who recognize the importance of the role that mental health intervention plays in our neighborhood policing efforts."

Garcia heads the largest sheriff's office in Texas and the third largest in the United States. He is a native Houstonian and became an officer with the Houston Police Department in 1980. Garcia oversees an operating budget of approximately $420 million and a workforce of about 4,000 law enforcement and civilian employees.

Garcia has developed numerous community outreach and partnership initiatives in Harris County, as well as programs to reduce repeated and habitual relapse into crime within the inmate population.

WHAT: 12th Annual Greater Houston Area Social Work Awards Breakfast

Sheriff Adrian Garcia Keynote Address, "The Harris County Jail: The Largest Mental Health Provider in Texas"

WHEN: 9 – 9:45 a.m., Friday, March 2. Sheriff Garcia will be available to the media after the keynote address.

WHO: Media are invited to attend keynote address from 9 – 9:45 a.m. There will be a question-and-answer period.

WHERE: Rockwell Pavilion, M.D. Anderson Library, University of Houston http://www.uh.edu/campus_map/buildings/L.php

Off Calhoun Road, Entrance 1 – parking in UH Welcome Center Garage

http://www.uh.edu/campus_map/buildings/WC.php

Provided by University of Houston