Chippewa County sheriff's public appeal exposes months-long waits for state psychiatric placement in Michigan
Bridge Michigan reported on Chippewa County Sheriff Michael Bitnar's Facebook appeal over a Vietnam veteran who was found incompetent to stand trial and stayed in the county jail awaiting a state psychiatric bed. The sheriff said at least five people in his jail were in the same position.
The article cites an average wait of 142 days for jail inmates to reach state hospitals, down from 183 days earlier, and notes that Michigan has 794 state psychiatric beds. A health department spokeswoman said all adult state facilities could accept people sent for restoration. Under Michigan law, the state has up to 15 months, or one-third of the maximum sentence, to evaluate and restore someone found incompetent.
The story shows the Michigan version of the waiting-in-jail problem and is a baseline against later, longer waits.
Source: Sheriff’s plea on mentally ill prisoner reveals gap in Michigan treatment — Bridge Michigan, by Ted Roelofs
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