Kansas inmates wait months for mental health beds as Sedgwick and Finney counties describe jail costs
The Kansas Reflector reported on testimony to lawmakers about Larned State Hospital, the state's largest psychiatric facility, which serves western Kansas. With beds short, county jails and community hospitals end up holding people without state reimbursement. Sedgwick County said 36 people were waiting an average of 5.5 months, one for more than a year, at roughly $89 a day each, while Finney County cited waits of three to nine months for evaluations or transfer to a state facility.
The Kansas Hospital Association asked the Legislature for $5 million a year to reimburse hospitals, law enforcement and local governments for behavioral-health costs, and a Finney County commissioner described jailers without mental health training who have been injured by inmates. The article also points to the ACLU lawsuit describing waits of up to 13 months for pretrial competency evaluations.
Source: Kansas inmates wait months for treatment due to shortage of mental health hospital beds — Kansas Reflector, by Rachel Mipro
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