Psychiatrist argues a full continuum of restoration services makes jail-based restoration unnecessary
Reena Kapoor revisits her 2011 writing on jail-based restoration, when only a handful of programs existed, and says the practice has since grown steadily, driven by cost and long waits for inpatient restoration beds. She notes Arizona moved most of its restoration from the state hospital to jails, sending only about 10 patients a year to the Arizona State Hospital for restoration between 2013 and 2017.
She summarizes reported results from programs in Virginia, Colorado and California, as well as a Georgia program that restored 40 percent of patients in jail versus 85 percent in hospital but started treatment sooner. She also points to the Trueblood settlement in Washington, in which the state agreed in 2018 to close two jail restoration programs that plaintiffs said were deficient.
Her conclusion is that jails are an attractive short-term fix for the bed shortage, but a properly funded continuum that includes supportive residential and outpatient options would leave jail-based restoration with no added benefit, a view that feeds directly into state debates over how to spend restoration dollars.
Source: A Continuum of Competency Restoration Services Need Not Include Jail — Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, by Reena Kapoor
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