Orange County staff described OC Cares as a jail reentry system that links in-custody mental health and addiction treatment with community supports, saying the program was intended to reduce recidivism and improve outcomes for people leaving custody.

"Prior to OC Cares, when somebody would get released from our custody ... they would be on their own," said Speaker 1 (Unidentified Speaker), summarizing the program's rationale. Officials attributed the program with expanding mental-health housing and embedding supports at release points.

Speakers said OC Cares focuses on treatment and reentry planning from the moment of booking. "We like to look at as reentry starts at booking," Speaker 4 (Unidentified Speaker) said, describing booking as an early opportunity to connect people to services. Speaker 1 said the county "was able to triple the size of our mental health housing," and described safety precautions and therapeutic design in those units; the claim about a threefold increase is presented as the presenters stated it in the meeting and was not independently verified in the transcript.

Officials outlined services inside custody: Speaker 4 said the county now offers "over 54 different programs," including a veteran-specific "Humvee unit," transitional-age-youth programming for people 18–24, and a "cell dogs" program intended to support emotional rehabilitation. Staff also told the meeting that every person in custody receives daily access to a tablet for educational and faith-based programming and that staff coordinate directly with community employers to link people to post-release work.

Speaker 2 gave a case example to illustrate program effects: "A 52 year old woman entered our jail with severe symptoms of bipolar disorder, mania, paranoia, and delusions," and, according to the presenters, she stabilized under intensive, cross-unit care and was transitioned to community-based support.

The presentation also described embedding resources in the lobbies of the two facilities where releases occur so people leaving custody meet Peer support organization Project Kinship and social-service agencies able to connect them to housing, treatment and other community supports.

A personal testimony underscored the program's local impact: Speaker 3 (Unidentified Speaker) said learning about incarcerated people helped them better understand their son, a veteran with PTSD who has struggled with addiction.

The meeting transcript does not record any vote or formal action; presenters framed OC Cares as an operational reentry program and provided examples and program counts but did not specify funding sources, exact start dates, or external oversight mechanisms during the remarks.