Court commitments to Hawaii State Hospital have more than tripled since 1997, most tied to fitness to proceed
Citing Hawaii Department of Health figures, Civil Beat reported that courts committed 331 defendants to the state hospital in 2016, up from 100 in 1997, and that those commitments accounted for every admission to the state's only publicly run psychiatric facility. Nearly 70 percent of patients arrived either because they were found unfit to proceed or for evaluation of their fitness, and roughly 80 percent of forensic patients faced low-level felonies or misdemeanors.
The article pointed to several drivers: nearly 1,100 homeless people with serious mental illness counted in 2017, up more than 30 percent since 2013; about $25 million in 2008 cuts to the Adult Mental Health Division that eliminated 58 positions and shrank community services still not restored to earlier levels; and judges becoming more careful about fitness questions to avoid appeals. The public defender said enforcement against homeless people feeds the pipeline.
It is a data-driven look at why a fitness-driven admissions stream strains a hospital that was not built for it.
Source: Why The Number Of Criminal Defendants Sent To The State Hospital Is Soaring — Honolulu Civil Beat, by Rui Kaneya
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