The Houston Recovery Center offers a unique intervention for public intoxication as a jail diversion program that keeps individuals who are impaired off the streets. Traditionally these individuals land in police custody, where they are held over in jail until they sober up, consuming valuable law enforcement resources that could instead be put toward their intended purpose of maintaining public safety by addressing violent crimes.

It’s important to know that individuals who are impaired and are caught operating a motor vehicle are brought to jail on DWI charges. Public intoxication is classified as a Class C misdemeanor, and publicly impaired individuals usually cause nuisance with trespass violations and are less of a danger to society.

Our substance abuse jail diversion center relieves local law enforcement from having to book these individuals in jail, so far saving 37,000 officer hours. Our center monitors clients and keeps them safe while they sober up. Seventy percent of our admissions involve individuals who visit us just one time and are spared the embarrassment of an arrest and time in jail. Thirty percent have repeat admissions. We make sure every person that comes through our doors is connected to the appropriate resources should they request assistance with substance use including our 18-month recovery program designed for clients whom are low income/uninsured or living in homelessness.

Care Coordination Planning Team

It was the 18th visit for Marcus. The sobering center had just opened. He was the first client and the most frequent to be admitted by law enforcement...

National Sobering
Collaborative

A national collaborative where leaders of sobering centers, stakeholders and constituents gather at an annual summit to share best practices...

Houston Recovery
Initiative

While society focuses on the ravages of addiction, the Houston Recovery Initiative redirects activity to recovery solutions cultivating the soil of social understanding...

Community
Partners

We do not and cannot do this work alone. Our community service providers deliver the addiction treatment and recovery services that make up our program.

A public intoxication sobering center that helps local law enforcement

Here at the Houston Recovery Center, 93 percent of our clients are referred to us by law enforcement agencies. They trust that our skilled staff and proven program can handle these individuals, who are picked up off the street due to public intoxication.

Our substance abuse sobering center also accepts walk-ins and those referred to us by medical professionals and might be intoxicated from alcohol or various other drugs.

Our public intoxication jail diversion center has a formal intake process and we monitor each of our clients to ensure that they are safe and healthy. The average stay at our facility is four to six hours, but we also provide resources for long-term treatment for substance abuse and addictions.

How our substance abuse jail diversion center helps the community and its people

With the help of the Houston Recovery Center, we relieve law enforcement of having to deal with the droves of minor, intoxicated arrestees so they can focus on more critical tasks associated with keeping the community safe. For the individual, they are able to get the help they need while avoiding costly marks on their criminal record that could follow them around for the rest of their lives.

Learn more about our public intoxication jail diversion center by scheduling a tour or talking to a member of our team.