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Contract holes: Santa Barbara County aims to adjust its contract with jail health care provider, Wellpath, to improve service levels

By Taylor O'Connor

“People are thrown into the snake pit,” Santa Barbara County resident Kate Smith said about the jail and the county’s mental health care system during public comment at a recent special meeting.  “You can talk about this year’s crop of buckets we could shoot people in to help, [but] it’s no different,” Smith said. “I don’t mean to be down on you people, but it’s time we formed that movement to create a mental health system for our loved ones.”  Smith was one of the several public commenters at an April 3 Santa Barbara County jail health care special meeting held at Direct Relief in Santa Barbara...