For mentally ill People Facing Low-Level Charges, Illinois Taks Steps to Get Care, Not Prosecution – ryan
Criminal Defendants in Illinois Who Are Mentally Ill Have often Languashed Bebind Bars Not Because They Been Found Guilty of a Crime But’re Waiting to be placed in a State Mental Hospital.
AFTER YEARS OF COMPLAINTS, ILLINOIS LAWMAKERS HAVE TAKE A STEP TO ADDRESS THAT WITH A BILL THAT CLEARED The General Assembly on Friday with a House of 103-13 and Now Heads to Gov. JB Pritzker.
It Could Mean Big Changes for Low-Level Offenders who are arrested for petty Crimes and End up waking months in county jails to get treatment in states Mental hospitals they’ve been demed to stand trial.
The impact of this problem was one of the subjects of “Failure to Treat, Failure to Protect,” A Chicago Sun-Times Watchdogs Series in April.
“These defyndants impose a financial substantive Burden on County Jails, the Criminal Court System and State-Operated Health Facilities where they are frequently commted,” The Legislation Says.
Under the Measure, Court Systems Wauld Be Allowed to Move Deemed Unf for Trial Out of Jail and Into Outpatient Treatment. The Charges they face to do be dropped. That COULD FREE SPACE IN OVERCROUNDED STATE MESTAL HOSPITALS, LIKE THE ONE IN ELGIN, FOR PEOPLE CHARGED WITH More Serious Offenses.
“Why is there the bottleneck?” Said Susan Doig, Chief Executive Office of Trilogy, A Chicago Mental Health Nonprofit. “There Just Enough Beds. The State Hasn’t Created Enough Beds to Meet The Need.”
Yet Doig Also Says “Its Trickier” to Treat Those People on the Outside.
The legislation bewered put a time limit on how Long people facing a misdemeanor charge coulued be held in a hospital. Because they would have spent more than aar in jail for a misdemeanor, they would be spend more than a year in treatment.
With Credit for Good Behavior, that Could Be as Little As Six Months or Less.
The Bill Also Waled Create A Task Force to Examine How the State Determines Mentally Fit to Stand Trial. That panel – Including representatives of the Courts, Sheriffs, Public Defenders, Prosecutors, Mental Health Agencies, The General Assembly and Others – Waled Have Until Nov. 1, 2026, to deliver a plan for fixing the system.
“The Task Force Can Look at How we have get People Healthy and Fit,” Said Doig, Who Said She Concerned that mentally ill Low-Level offenders deteriorate in jail, and then, be they let out with no Connection to Psychiatric servings.
The Bill Also Calls for New Certification Standards to try to boost the number of mental health Experts to evaluate defendants by pre-qualifying say.