Alabama mental health department outlines plan to add jail-based and community competency restoration
The Department of Mental Health's Office of Forensic Mental Health Services, led by Dr. Virginia Scott-Adams, published a 10-page overview of three restoration settings. It presents inpatient restoration as the top tier, meant for the most acute and highest-risk defendants, and the most costly, jail-based restoration as a lower-risk and cheaper alternative, and community-based restoration for the lowest-risk defendants, citing reported restoration rates and cost estimates for each.
The paper states that Alabama offers restoration only in inpatient settings and that the department is preparing to pilot jail-based and community models, including training for examiners and community providers, a screening tool to guide placement, and remote service capacity. It notes that states facing lawsuits like Hunter v. Boswell, such as Washington, Colorado and California, began jail-based programs to reduce waitlists.
It is an agency planning document rather than news, but it records how the department intended to move beyond inpatient-only restoration.
Source: Competency Restoration Models — Alabama Department of Mental Health, by Virginia Scott-Adams, Psy.D.
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