It's been years in the making, but finally, a plan to help scores of nonviolent, mentally ill people avoid jail and get treatment will take shape in the coming year, Dallas County leaders said Monday.

The changes, to be primarily funded with a $7 million private grant, aims to bring fewer mentally ill people to the jail, release more of them while they await trial and connect them with services once they're freed so they don't return.

The goal: to facilitate treatment for mentally ill people who now disproportionately use emergency services such as police, paramedics, the jail and emergency rooms. That would then free up public safety and health workers to focus on other pressing issues, and ultimately cost taxpayers less.

[For more of this story, written by Naomi Martin, go to http://www.dallasnews.com/news...dallas-mentally-2017]