Pennsylvania misses a second settlement deadline for forensic beds as Norristown residents push back and waits approach 14 months
WHYY reports that Pennsylvania's Department of Human Services has again fallen behind on federal settlements obliging it to supply inpatient psychiatric care to defendants found incompetent to stand trial, the second lapse in two years. Norristown officials and residents pushed back on a plan to open 50 more beds at the state hospital by Dec. 15, so the department stopped construction and agreed with the plaintiffs' attorneys on a Jan. 5 deadline instead.
The delay lands on top of a long wait. The ACLU of Pennsylvania's legal director said people sit in county jails for more than a year before a bed opens, putting the Norristown wait at roughly 14 months against a seven-day federal standard. The state has so far added over 100 forensic beds under the agreements, yet the list of people waiting in county prisons keeps lengthening, and large penalties are possible if it does not speed up.
Norristown draws its forensic patients from 19 eastern counties, while Torrance State Hospital serves the remainder of the state. A same-week Philadelphia Inquirer report said 194 people were on the Norristown list in November, up from 184 when the first settlement was reached in January 2016.
Source: Pa. DHS lags on efforts to provide residential treatment for mentally ill defendants — WHYY, by Laura Benshoff
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