Hundreds of prisoners in the Dallas County jail are ready greater than two years for a mattress in a state mental hospital.
DALLAS — Inside the Dallas County Jail, there are greater than 360 prisoners discovered incompetent to face trial who’re awaiting a mattress in a state mental hospital.
On common, a male prisoner discovered incompetent to face trial waits about 795 days to get a mattress in a maximum-security state hospital. The wait time for a feminine prisoner in the identical scenario is about 230 days.
“The wait is just incredibly long,” mentioned protection lawyer Stara Roemer.
A choose dominated one of her purchasers incompetent in February 2021. The choose ordered that he be despatched to a state mental hospital for treatment. He continues to be ready in jail greater than 460 days later.
“There’s no end in sight,” Roemer mentioned. “And that’s another one of the problems… you have literally no idea when their number’s gonna finally be called.”
WFAA first detailed the prolonged wait occasions for state hospital beds in 2016, highlighting the case of Thomas Johnson.
Johnson, a former Texas A&M soccer participant, ambushed and hacked to dying a White Rock Lake jogger in 2015.
A choose had discovered the identified schizophrenic incompetent to face trial and ordered him to be despatched to a mental hospital, however there was no out there mattress for months.
“When there’s not enough beds, that’s a crisis that I think we all need to be concerned about,” his then-attorney, Jennifer Balido, mentioned in a 2016 interview.
Johnson ultimately obtained a mattress in a state mental hospital and ultimately stood trial for homicide. He was convicted and sentenced to life in jail in 2019.
For years, wait occasions have been prolonged, however state officers say these wait occasions have been exacerbated by the pandemic.
In 2020, the wait time for a maximum-security mattress in Texas was 270 days. It’s now 514 days, state officers mentioned.
The wait time in 2020 for a minimum-security mattress was about 3-and-a-half months. It’s now 230 days, or 7-and-a-half months, in keeping with state officers.
Currently, there are greater than 2,300 folks ready for a state hospital mattress in county jails throughout Texas.
While these prisoners await a mattress, it’s left to county taxpayers to pay the payments whereas they languish in jail.
“That’s unacceptable,” mentioned Dallas County Commissioner Theresa Daniel. “I don’t care how you cut it.”
Daniel advised WFAA it prices about $67 on common a day for the county to deal with a prisoner. But if a prisoner wants well being care or mental well being providers, the price jumps to about $120 a day.
“Do the math,” she mentioned. “It’s very expensive.”
In the Bexar County jail, there are greater than 220 prisoners ready on a state mental hospital mattress. That’s nearly double the quantity from a yr in the past, mentioned Mike Lozito, director of the county’s Office of Criminal Justice Policy, Planning & Programs.
Lozito mentioned the state is failing in its accountability to “restore individuals back to competency so they can stand trial.”
“The person is waiting” for treatment, Lozito mentioned. “Sometimes they’re waiting longer than what their sentence would be…Because of their mental health issues, they’re not getting their fair day in court.”
He says it’s the state that has the accountability to repair the issue.
State officers say they’ve been working to extend the quantity of beds. Seventy maximum-security beds are being added in Kerrville, and there are plans to construct a mental hospital in Dallas with about 25 beds.
However, that quantity will come nowhere near fixing what has been a scientific drawback for years, critics say.
“This is not a good situation for all the counties and it’s really putting everybody in a crisis,” Lozito mentioned.
story by The Texas Tribune Source link