Houston Chronicle: Texas jail waits for state hospital beds balloon despite $300 million in new funding
The Houston Chronicle reported that more than 500 people in Texas jails were waiting for a state hospital bed, and that the Harris County Sheriff's Office was holding between 60 and 80 of them on a typical day at about $295 per inmate per day. As of mid-July, 337 people were waiting an average of 130 days for a maximum-security bed and another 209 were waiting about 23 days for a non-maximum-security bed. Some waited more than 200 days, and for people facing minor charges the wait could exceed any likely sentence.
The paper traced the problem to capacity: the state had 296 fewer forensic-capable beds than in 1994, and the waitlist had grown sharply in the previous two years. Most of those waiting had been found incompetent to stand trial, with a smaller group found not guilty by reason of insanity. Texas officials said patients were more complex and stayed longer.
The 2017 Legislature approved about $300 million for state hospital repairs and $10.3 million for more maximum-security forensic beds at Vernon, and passed bills authorizing jail-based competency restoration and a recidivism grant program. Disability Rights Texas's 2016 federal suit over wait times was still pending.
Source: Lack of beds for inmates needing mental health help — Houston Chronicle, by Keri Blakinger
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