MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Fernando Clark spent the last 10 months of his life in a jail cell, waiting for psychiatric treatment a court ordered he undergo after he’d been arrested for stealing cigarettes and some fruit from a gas station. He died while waiting for the treatment that never arrived, found unresponsive in his jail cell.
Clark was just one of hundreds of people across Alabama awaiting a spot in the state’s increasingly limited facilities, despite a consent decree requiring the state to address delays in evaluating and providing care for people suffering from mental illness who are charged with crimes.
Seven years since the federal agreement, the problem is only worse. The waitlist for the state’s sole secure psychiatric facility is almost five times longer than when the decree was issued, according to court documents released in September.
Sometimes arrestees are waiting years for placement in a facility designed to treat their illness and ensure they are healthy to go to court, a problem faced by many states around the country. In Alabama, that means people charged with less serious crimes, like Clark, “spend more time waiting for a bed than if they had just pled guilty,” said Bill Van Der Pol, a lawyer with the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program, which won the federal consent decree.
In 2010, the Department of Mental Health had its budget cut by $40 million in the wake of the recession. At least 10 state-run psychiatric facilities have closed over the past three decades, leaving only three inpatient facilities with 504 total beds, and just one where men facing criminal charges can receive treatment to restore them to competency.
The consent decree was filed in 2016, alleging delays at every point in the process that violated constitutional due process. First, there was a wait for psychiatric evaluations. Then if deemed unfit for trial, there was a wait for a spot at the lone secure facility that serves men: Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility.
The waitlist has grown to 273 men, up from approximately 60 in 2017. The average wait is well over a year, and more than 30 on the list have languished more than two years. The state is still in mediation with the plaintiffs.
Nationally, the number of state hospital beds for adults with serious mental health issues reached a historic low in 2023, with many occupied by people committed through the criminal legal system. Officials nationwide face similar challenges, with court systems increasingly identifying mental illness as a factor in criminal behavior, but the treatment infrastructure failing to catch up.
Alabama has taken steps to address this issue, with plans to add 80 beds at Taylor Hardin, although staffing shortages complicate these efforts. A significant investment has been made to build crisis centers providing alternatives to incarceration.
Jennifer Tompkins, an Alabama criminal defense attorney, noted that the lengthy process to receive care, combined with a lack of facilities, poses an insurmountable challenge for individuals like Clark, leaving many unable to get timely and adequate treatment.
Clark's case exemplifies the intersection of mental health crises and the criminal justice system, revealing urgent necessities for reform and improved resources to prevent unnecessary tragedies.
Clark was just one of hundreds of people across Alabama awaiting a spot in the state’s increasingly limited facilities, despite a consent decree requiring the state to address delays in evaluating and providing care for people suffering from mental illness who are charged with crimes.
Seven years since the federal agreement, the problem is only worse. The waitlist for the state’s sole secure psychiatric facility is almost five times longer than when the decree was issued, according to court documents released in September.
Sometimes arrestees are waiting years for placement in a facility designed to treat their illness and ensure they are healthy to go to court, a problem faced by many states around the country. In Alabama, that means people charged with less serious crimes, like Clark, “spend more time waiting for a bed than if they had just pled guilty,” said Bill Van Der Pol, a lawyer with the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program, which won the federal consent decree.
In 2010, the Department of Mental Health had its budget cut by $40 million in the wake of the recession. At least 10 state-run psychiatric facilities have closed over the past three decades, leaving only three inpatient facilities with 504 total beds, and just one where men facing criminal charges can receive treatment to restore them to competency.
The consent decree was filed in 2016, alleging delays at every point in the process that violated constitutional due process. First, there was a wait for psychiatric evaluations. Then if deemed unfit for trial, there was a wait for a spot at the lone secure facility that serves men: Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility.
The waitlist has grown to 273 men, up from approximately 60 in 2017. The average wait is well over a year, and more than 30 on the list have languished more than two years. The state is still in mediation with the plaintiffs.
Nationally, the number of state hospital beds for adults with serious mental health issues reached a historic low in 2023, with many occupied by people committed through the criminal legal system. Officials nationwide face similar challenges, with court systems increasingly identifying mental illness as a factor in criminal behavior, but the treatment infrastructure failing to catch up.
Alabama has taken steps to address this issue, with plans to add 80 beds at Taylor Hardin, although staffing shortages complicate these efforts. A significant investment has been made to build crisis centers providing alternatives to incarceration.
Jennifer Tompkins, an Alabama criminal defense attorney, noted that the lengthy process to receive care, combined with a lack of facilities, poses an insurmountable challenge for individuals like Clark, leaving many unable to get timely and adequate treatment.
Clark's case exemplifies the intersection of mental health crises and the criminal justice system, revealing urgent necessities for reform and improved resources to prevent unnecessary tragedies.
