For a long time, sociologists and other professional observers of human behavior have been telling us that putting mentally ill criminal offenders into the same cell arrangements as garden variety crooks is the wrong thing to do, often creating more problems than there were to start out.

With an eye on that concept, Marquette County is following other progressive units of government around the country by building two new cells, especially for people dealing with mental health issues.

The total project is expected to cost $228,054. The county board voted approval earlier this week.

“This is a progressive thing for Marquette County, to try and keep some of these mental health people out of the jail where it’s not the place for them to be,” board Chairman Gerald Corkin said in a Mining Journal story on the matter. “It’s the right thing to do and with the help from state funding through Pathways (Community Mental Health) … we should be able to do it.”

Funding for the project is complex: Pathways earlier this year received a $260,000 Michigan Department of Health and Human Services grant for jail diversion. Marquette County has permission to use $217,000 for construction costs. In addition, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and Keweenaw Bay Indian Community have chipped in with $4,000 and $6,500 respectively, under the 2 percent gaming distribution.

This effort has been a long time coming in Marquette County, which, like a lot of other units of government, is beset by financial woes. That said, it appears from the information available now, that the county’s actual fiscal exposure is minimal, with the possibility of a very large payoff later.

We support this effort and hope it obtains good results.