Woman dies in Illinois jail after 67 days awaiting a state hospital bed
Khayla Evans, 24, died of cardiac arrest in Lake County Jail after 67 days awaiting a state hospital bed following a competency finding, according to reporting from Capitol News Illinois and the Illinois Answers Project. The piece ties her death to a 450 percent surge in Illinois unfitness findings between 2020 and 2024, which pushed average placement waits to 85 days against a 60-day legal limit.
The reporting noted at least four such deaths since 2019, one resulting in an $11 million settlement, and more than $500,000 in county contempt fines already levied against the state — figures that placed Illinois alongside Texas and Colorado among the states where waitlist deaths have driven the most significant legal and financial consequences.
Source: Too mentally ill for trial, she spent months in an Illinois jail as the state looked for a hospital bed. She died waiting. — Capitol News Illinois, by Illinois Answers Project
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