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Lubbock considers in-house competency restoration for mentally ill defendants

Defendants deemed incompetent to stand trial because of mental illness typically must wait for beds in state hospitals to open up before they can be declared competent to enter a plea, even for petty misdemeanors. Now Lubbock County may join the ranks of jurisdictions performing competency restoration in the jail instead of sending them all to state hospitals, where waiting lists are typically months long. Reports the Lubbock Avalanche Journal ("Lubbock County to consider funding mental health services in jail," Nov. 7):The services for severely mentally ill inmates would include intervention, rehabilitation, competency restoration and education and are meant to reduce mentally ill inmates? length of stay behind bars and reduce the probability they will return...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on November 07, 2010 (boomark / email).