Pennsylvania human services department issues statewide procedures for competency evaluation and restoration
The document, dated January 2, 2019, lays out six procedures: the initial competency hearing and evaluation order; treatment, restoration and re-evaluation; handling of defendants found incompetent and non-restorable; collaboration among courts, lawyers, mental health providers and corrections; jail-based restoration; and outpatient restoration programs. Footnotes tie the procedures to recommendations in a December 2017 consultant report on cutting the restoration waitlist, and the text draws on National Judicial College and American Bar Association standards.
The jail-based and outpatient procedures set standards so that courts can order restoration outside a state hospital, in the community or in a jail, with smaller counties allowed to pool services. The collaboration procedure calls for regular statewide and local stakeholder meetings and for tracking and publishing key data on the competency population.
Taken together, the set pairs standardized front-end procedures with non-hospital restoration options, rather than relying on hospital beds alone.
Source: Forensic Wait List - Procedures (Procedures 1-6) — Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, by Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
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