Alabama agrees to 30-day cap on competency wait times in federal consent decree
A federal consent decree in Hunter v. Beshear required Alabama's Department of Mental Health to cap the wait for competency evaluation and restoration at 30 days by late 2019, and to add roughly 100 forensic hospital and community-based beds. Some detainees had previously waited up to nine months in jail before the decree.
The case was one of the earlier state-specific competency consent decrees in this backfill, predating similar agreements later reached in Oklahoma, Georgia, and elsewhere.
Source: Federal Court Enters Consent Decree to Remedy Delays in Psychiatric Services for Persons with Mental Illness and Intellectual Disabilities Held in Jails — ACLU of Alabama
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