Texas's competency restoration waitlist reaches a record 1,813, nearly double the year before
Citing sources at the Judicial Commission on Mental Health, the Observer reported at least 1,813 people waiting for a state hospital bed, a record that had nearly doubled from 970 in 2020. Defendants charged with offenses from petty misdemeanors to violent felonies can be left in jail while they wait for one of roughly 3,000 state beds.
The story ties the growth to population: Texas's population nearly tripled from 1964 to 2016 while state hospital beds fell almost 80 percent, from 14,921 to 3,013. A 2016 state report had already called the waitlist a crisis and urged nearly 2,000 more beds, yet more than $1 billion in rebuilding money over two sessions raised the bed count by only about 350.
A former magistrate judge who now sits on the commission recalled that 21 days once seemed unacceptable, and a Texas Jail Project leader called for diversion, particularly for misdemeanor defendants.
Source: In Texas, the Waitlist for a Bed at a State Mental Hospital Hits an All-Time High — Dallas Observer, by Michael Murney
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