LUBBOCK, Texas — Long waitlists for competency examinations and restoration services mean some defendants with mental health disorders may be released from jail before they receive the services they need.
A shortage of doctors qualified to conduct competency examinations is contributing to the problem, but that is not the only waitlist some defendants face.
Jail becomes mental health provider
Sheriff Kelly Rowe says the Lubbock County Detention Center has become the largest mental health provider in the county.
“Unfortunately, in the United States, our jails become our de facto mental institutions. Once we moved away as a nation from the inpatient care model to the outpatient care model, that is where these individuals ultimately landed,” Rowe said…