Lots of people in the mental health world will tell you that, in this country, jail has become the default psychiatric ward. Pima County’s Restoration to Competency program was meant to break that cycle — and prepare people with mental illness to face trial.
But criminal justice and health care experts are sounding the alarm about the program arguing it’s keeping people with mental illness in jail and not in treatment and it’s putting overwhelmed jail staff in the dangerous position of trying to manage people who don’t understand the criminal justice system.
John Washington is a reporter for Arizona Luminaria in Tucson.
Full conversation
JOHN WASHINGTON: Yeah, so the situation is very complicated, but basically anyone who is facing criminal prosecution needs to be able to understand the court proceedings and even assist in their own defense for trial to proceed. And if there’s a question whether they are competent enough to do that, they can be entered into these programs…