Advocacy groups sue Missouri over competency evaluation and placement delays
ArchCity Defenders, the ACLU of Missouri, and the MacArthur Justice Center filed a proposed class action against the state's Department of Mental Health, alleging competency evaluations that should take 60 days are instead taking up to six months, and that people found incompetent wait an average of 14 months for a hospital placement.
The suit landed just months before Missouri's governor proposed a budget expansion aimed at the same underlying capacity shortfall, though advocates in the case argued that proposal would still fall well short of what's needed.
Source: Advocates sue Missouri's Mental Health Department over delays in treating inmates — STLPR, by Rachel Lippmann
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