Montana jails hold people for months awaiting state hospital forensic evaluations and beds
KFF Health News reporter Katheryn Houghton, in a piece published by Montana Free Press, described people held in jail for months while waiting for evaluation or treatment at the state hospital in Warm Springs. One woman waited 125 days in Cascade County jail and a man with schizophrenia spent 100 days in Flathead County jail. A Flathead County case was dismissed for unreasonable delay after 85 days awaiting evaluation, and a defendant in Cascade County waited about 19 months for a state evaluation before his case was dismissed in 2020.
The forensic unit had filled only 46 of 81 full-time positions as of March 14. Lewis and Clark County Attorney Leo Gallagher said such defendants can be parked in a county jail for six to eight months. The article attributes the backlog to staffing shortages, a shortage of psychiatric providers, limited beds and pandemic protocols.
The story documents how Montana's forensic waitlist played out in county jails in early 2022.
Source: Long waits for Montana State Hospital leave psychiatric patients in jail — Montana Free Press (KFF Health News), by Katheryn Houghton, KFF Health News
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