Budget crisis keeps inmates from needed mental help

Mar 5, 2010 — The Pantagraph

Edith Brady-Lunny

Mar. 5, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- BLOOMINGTON -- A 20-year-old man was deemed unfit to stand trial on aggravated battery charges on Jan. 22, a finding that should have triggered his transfer to Springfield's McFarland Mental Health Center for services that would restore him to fitness.

But he and three other inmates found similarly unfit remain in the McLean County jail, the victims of a state budget crisis that has reduced services at the state mental health facility.

McLean County Sheriff Mike Emery said the four men are among a dozen inmates currently requiring special housing arrangements due to mental health issues. The jail, said Emery, "is serving as a small mental health clinic."

Judge Elizabeth Robb, chief judge of the 11th Judicial Circuit, expressed concerns about the backlog in treatment.

"It's a pretty expensive proposition to keep them in jail and they're not getting the treatment they need," said Robb.

On Jan. 29, two other men were declared unfit to stand trial on aggravated battery charges in unrelated cases. For one, it was the second time since his September 2008 arrest that a judge had ruled him unfit.

In the fourth case, a 32-year-old man charged with misdemeanor retail theft was ruled unfit Dec. 22. Due back in court March 12 for a review of his treatment plan at McFarland, the theft suspect is still in the jail.

In a fifth case, a man accused in the beating death of his daughter last summer was moved to McFarland this week after a monthlong delay.

A 12 percent cut in McFarland's budget left the facility with less staff to take care of forensic patients that make up at least 30 percent of McFarland's census, said Tom Green, spokesman for the state Department of Human Services. A planned expansion of forensic services also has been shelved.

Forensic patients have been found not guilty but mentally ill or are being evaluated or treated for fitness to stand trial.

Other Illinois counties experiencing the same delays include Sangamon, Effingham, Logan and Macon, according to the state.

In response to the delays, DHS is "considering beginning meetings with the judiciary and key attorneys in each county to explain our forensic process and the realities of our bed limitations at McFarland MHC," said Green.

With 41 beds available -- 26 for adults and 15 for youths -- McFarland currently has a shortage of beds available for mentally unfit defendants, said Green.

The delays point to the lack of funding available for mental health services at all levels, said Robb.

"If people received community-based services they wouldn't be waiting to go to McFarland to be restored to fitness," said Robb.

Public defender Brian McEldowney views the treatment orders as an obligation.

"If you're going to prosecute mentally ill people, you have to provide resources to restore them to fitness," said McEldowney, whose office represents many mentally ill defendants.

Of particular concern for McEldowney are those deemed unfit on misdemeanor offenses where the time spent in custody can exceed the sentence they could receive if convicted. And the time spent in treatment does not count towards the 120-day limit the state has to bring people to trial.

"Their justice is being delayed," said McEldowney.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0166-42625963