Some of the roughly 300 inmates in Bexar County’s jail who’ve been deemed incompetent to face trial may benefit from a new pilot program if authorised by Bexar County commissioners, officers mentioned at a press convention Monday.
The Jail Based Competency Restoration program would deal with inmates’ psychological well being points with the purpose of restoring their competency, which means they perceive the essential components of the justice system and may help in their very own protection, and so can stand trial.
If profitable, the program might cut back the jail inhabitants and the lengthy waitlist for a mattress on the state psychiatric hospital by shifting these inmates by means of the justice system.
Inmates can’t be tried for a crime until they’re deemed competent, so that they usually languish in jail the place there’s restricted entry to psychological well being care and an 18-24 month wait for a mattress within the San Antonio State Hospital, which serves 64 counties, mentioned Monica Torres, director of justice applications on the Center for Health Care Services (CHCS).
Currently, there isn’t any program inside the jail devoted to restoring authorized competency. That job usually belongs to the state, which has taken tons of of its psychological well being beds out of service attributable to extreme staffing shortages. While Dallas County is suing the state over that shortcoming, Bexar County leaders have determined as an alternative to take issues into their very own fingers.
Under the pilot, funded by a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, CHCS will rent seven medical and medical employees who will present treatment administration, group and particular person remedy classes and carry out competency evaluations “to determine if the program participant is competent to stand trial and continue due process,” Torres mentioned.
To set up competency, she mentioned, inmates want to have the ability to reply fundamental questions resembling: What does the choose do? What is your cost? What are the pleas which you can plead for these costs? What does a protection lawyer do?
Some individuals have been in jail longer than the sentence for their crime could be, Salazar mentioned. Once declared competent, a choose might set them free, however till then, he mentioned,” they’re going to take a seat in that jail, and so they’re going to proceed to decompensate on us regardless of our greatest efforts.”
CHCS estimates that the program might serve about 40 inmates by means of the top of this yr and 80 in 2024, Torres mentioned. They anticipate that greater than half will depart jail by both going to trial or having their costs dropped.
The group will prioritize the 150-175 inmates who’ve been ready the longest for inpatient competency restoration providers and should not in most safety models, she mentioned. Those inmates may even endure a threat evaluation to ensure they’ll safely work with different inmates and employees.
Not all inmates are able to competency restoration, Salazar mentioned. “We know that there is a certain population [of inmates] … that just simply are not going to be good candidates for this.”
But this program would finally shorten the waitlist for psychiatric beds for the inmates that want it most by diverting others to trial or launch.
Commissioner Grant Moody (Pct. 3) mentioned the program could be a “win-win-win” for the inmates, victims, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office and native taxpayers.
“Personally, I’m excited about it,” Moody mentioned. “I think this is part of a holistic solution when it comes to mental health services and dealing with those found incompetent.”
People with psychological well being or substance abuse challenges have “no business” in jail, mentioned Jelynne LeBlanc Jamison, president and CEO of CHCS. “But we’re trying to work within the system.”
Jamison mentioned she hopes that the pilot competency restoration program will exhibit success to the Department of Justice and will likely be funded once more as soon as the grant expires in 2024.
The Bexar County jail doesn’t have the employees nor the experience to provide inmates the psychological well being care they want, Salazar mentioned, and the jail is already woefully understaffed.
The county can also be planning on constructing its personal psychiatric hospital, he famous. The Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute was commissioned by Bexar County to check the necessity for a new facility, which can be funded by the state.
“We are very excited about the findings from the Meadows Policy Institute study, which identified that we need a psychiatric campus in Bexar County to serve civil and forensic needs in this community,” Jamison mentioned. “Houston has one, Dallas has one. It’s Bexar County’s time. … We’re very hopeful that we can make that a reality in the coming years.”
The state is constructing a new psychiatric hospital on the identical South Side campus as its present hospital, which might liberate the present constructing to turn out to be the county-run psychiatric hospital for inmates deemed incompetent, county officers have mentioned. The state’s new hospital is slated to open in January 2024. County commissioners authorised a contract with a marketing consultant final week to create an adaptive reuse research for the present constructing.
During a commissioner’s courtroom assembly final week, Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai mentioned he would love the county to deal with diversion applications that stop individuals with psychological well being points from going to jail within the first place.
“We’re just building bigger jails for this particular population,” Sakai mentioned. “I think we need diversionary programs and wraparound services for this population if we’re truly going to intervene and provide services … to get people out of the cycle of mental health mental illness.”
Commissioners are anticipated to vote to just accept the grant on Tuesday.
Reporter Andrea Drush contributed to this text.