Alabama misses nearly all evaluation and admission deadlines 16 months into its competency consent decree
Court records showed that since the January 2018 decree, inpatient competency evaluations in Alabama averaged 365 days, outpatient evaluations averaged 198 days, and admissions to Taylor Hardin for restoration averaged 263 days. The decree had called for a 54-day standard in its first year and 30 days after two years. Plaintiffs' lawyers told the outlet they doubted the department could solve what looked like systemic administrative problems on its own.
The department did satisfy the bed-building terms: it added 25 beds at Taylor Hardin in July 2017 against a requirement of at least 24, and 32 community beds against a requirement of 20. In court filings it blamed the losses of two evaluators, slow delivery of records from lawyers, trouble getting access to people held by the state corrections department, and the strain of handling orders for both jailed and non-jailed defendants.
A joint remedial plan approved by Judge Myron Thompson in April 2019 added new benchmarks and a plan to hire an outside consultant. The report is an early marker in a compliance fight that would run for years.
Source: State not in compliance with agreement for speedier mental evaluations for incarcerated — Alabama Political Reporter, by Eddie Burkhalter
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