Kentucky evaluation backlog reaches 353 as the state psychiatric center operates under half its beds
14 News reported that about 300 people were waiting for the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center in July 2023 and 353 by mid-August. The state health cabinet said inpatient evaluations had been taking 10 to 12 months since January 2022, and that the center's census was 38 against a maximum capacity of 78.
The story follows a Henderson defendant accused in a 2022 homeless-shelter killing who had been ordered evaluated in February 2023 and was still waiting eight months later. It also notes that a 2021 revision of a Kentucky commitment statute puts some defendants on a 20-day track, which pushes other cases further down the list.
The piece shows how staffing limits at one facility create statewide delays in felony cases.
Source: ‘The Waiting Game:’ Why psychiatric evaluations in Kentucky are clogging the courts system — 14 News (WFIE, Evansville), by Steve Mehling
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