In many states, mentally ill defendants facing charges of low-level felonies and misdemeanors can spend months in jail awaiting evaluations or bed space in hospitals, say mental- health experts and judges.
In a process known as restoration, mentally ill defendants are transferred to a state hospital and receive treatment until they are able to understand the consequences of the charges against them and are deemed mentally competent to stand trial. The big problem with this arrangement? The time spent waiting in jail before receiving treatment is often longer than the jail time sentence they receive for committing the crime. The demand for defendant mental-health treatment has increased, and hospitals cannot keep up.
“Jails are not hospitals, they are not designed as therapeutic environments, and they are not equipped to manage mental illness,” said Chief U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman. Demand for competency evaluations increased 82% in a ten year period in Washington state. Pechman declared that the long wait times violate the U.S. Constitution, and ordered the state Department of Social and Health Services to act within 7 days of receiving a judge’s order for a defendant’s competency evaluation. In March, the state instead passed a law requiring a 14-day time frame, to avoid rushed evaluations and potentially false findings.
Other states are also pushing for change like Washington state. Florida has implemented a treatment center for defendants charged with low level crimes. According to Miami-Dade County Judge Steve Leifman, who leads a Florida Supreme Court task force on mental- health and substance abuse, the new system is “much cheaper, much faster, and the outcomes are so much better.” Across the country, there are over 300 similar programs. This is definitely a step in the right direction.
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