Aiken County jail runs competency restoration locally under a recent state law change
The Aiken Standard reports that the Aiken County detention center, working with Aiken Barnwell Mental Health, now delivers competency restoration inside the jail after South Carolina changed its law roughly two years earlier; before that, restoration could be provided only by the state mental health department in Columbia. The mental health agency's chief of jail services said eight people were in the first cohort and that the program has saved the detention center about $70,000.
Under the process described, a general sessions judge orders restoration once a detainee is found incompetent, and local delivery is meant to teach the legal process without waiting for a state placement; the state's forensic services director said it is shortening waits for beds. The article also covers the county's mental health court diversion program, which began in 2020.
Source: Aiken County detention center meets mental health needs with restoration programs — Aiken Standard (Post and Courier), by Bianca Moorman
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