Due to an excessively long waitlist, Kansas inmates who await mental health treatment and evaluations could spend more time in state-run facilities than in prison if convicted.
The situation has been described as one of the “state’s worst ongoing human rights crises” by Lauren Bonds, Executive Director of the National Police Accountability Project.
“The law requires Kansans charged with crimes to be mentally competent to stand for trial,” said Bonds. “But KDADS’s inability to quickly and effectively evaluate that competency, and treat individuals whose competency is lacking, is a flagrant violation of the rights of already vulnerable people.”
The ACLU of Kansas had its sights set on a preliminary injunction to remedy the problem in the short term while an ongoing lawsuit is taking place. However, a federal district judge has denied the move to tackle the long waitlist for mental health beds at Larned State Hospital.
The judge’s decision means hundreds of people stuck on the waitlist will continue to be held in county jails, dealing with conditions that could further harm their mental health. The legal director of the ACLU of Kansas, Sharon Brett, says that she is disappointed by the ruling but remains confident in ultimately winning the larger legal battle.
“This case is about some of our most vulnerable community members,” said Brett. “Because of the court’s ruling, hundreds of people on the waitlist for Larned will continue to languish for indeterminate months in our county jails, under conditions that exacerbate rather than treat mental illness.”
This legal showdown began in May 2022 with the Glendening v. Howard lawsuit and a bid for a preliminary injunction. ACLU of Kansas teamed up with the National Police Accountability Project of the National Lawyers’ Guild and Stinson LLP to take on the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services (KDADS), which oversees Larned State Hospital.
The ACLU says that wait times at Larned can last 13 months or more, meaning that some folks on the waitlist are stuck in limbo longer than they would’ve been behind bars if they were convicted.
Expert analysis supporting the injunction identified Kansas as an outlier among the 50 states in terms of the length of wait times. The state’s justifications for the waitlist were rebuffed, with the 2022 legislative reforms deemed “an incomplete and speculative solution to the unconstitutional wait times currently in place, a harm that demands immediate redress.”
As the legal battle unfolds, the spotlight remains on the urgent need for systemic changes to address the mental health crisis within the criminal justice system. Timely evaluations and treatments for individuals awaiting trial have become imperative to safeguard the constitutional rights and well-being of those entangled in the intersection of mental health and legal proceedings.
