TOPEKA — Kansas officials have settled a lawsuit over delays in providing mental health evaluations and treatment for incarcerated individuals in county jails.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and the National Police Accountability Project in May 2022 filed the federal class-action lawsuit against three current and former officials in the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, which has oversight of the state’s largest psychiatric facility. The parties settled the case Nov. 5.
State officials agreed to increase the number of available treatment beds at Larned State Hospital and to address the inadequate staffing levels and underfunding that has led to a facility with hundreds waiting for treatment. As of January, the hospital had 140 beds designated for defendants in need of treatment or evaluation, but only 100 of those were usable because of low staffing levels.
“This settlement is more than a legal agreement,” said Lauren Bonds, executive director for NPAP and a former legal director for the ACLU of Kansas. “It’s a lifeline for those who have been lost in the system, a promise that their dignity and humanity will no longer be ignored.”
KDADS committed to opening 30 of the currently closed beds by January 2025 and “with best offers to open 52 additional beds by January 2027,” said a Monday news release from the ACLU of Kansas.
The ACLU and NPAP filed the lawsuit on behalf of four individuals who were involved in criminal cases that were stalled while waiting for mental health evaluations.
In one of the cases, a man sat in jail for more than two years awaiting competency services at the state hospital for what was originally a six-month sentence for drug possession.
Incarcerated Kansans are able to access through Larned State Hospital competency evaluations, which can aid a court in determining whether someone is fit to stand trial or fully understand any charges against them, and restoration services, which involve treatment to attempt to return someone to competency. But in 2023, the defendant waitlist never shrank below 160, according to monthly totals presented to the Legislature in January.
The legal director of the ACLU of Kansas, Monica Bennett, said the settlement was a “huge step” to prevent the criminalization of mental health issues.
“Remaining in the jail environment is devastating and deeply harmful even for those whose mental health is not in question, and condemning Kansans to languish across the state in their county jails was contradictory to our values of justice,” she said.
Neither KDADS nor the governor’s office responded Monday to Kansas Reflector’s requests for comment.
Don’t miss a beat … Click here to sign up for our email newsletters
Click here to learn more about our newsletters first
