MENTAL HEALTH | Dean Olsen
A bill hastily amended and approved by the Illinois General Assembly would shield the state from a lawsuit in which sheriffs are trying to force the state to prevent mentally ill defendants from languishing in county jail for months without adequate treatment.
House Bill 240 was approved 32-15 by the Senate on Jan. 6 and 85-24 by the House on Jan. 10 during the legislature’s “lame duck” session. The bill is expected to head to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk soon for his signature.
Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell said the proposed changes in state law through the bill would allow the Illinois Department of Human Services “to leave these inmates lingering in county jails and not receiving the care they require. It also would exponentially increase the liability for all Illinois county jails as they are forced to house these individuals.”
However, Ann Spillane, Gov. JB Pritzker’s general counsel, and HB 240’s sponsor, state Sen. Ann Gillespie, D-Arlington Heights, said the bill would create more opportunities for DHS to free up beds in state psychiatric hospitals for jail inmates who have been ruled unfit to stand trial and need treatment to restore their mental health.
The bill “unquestionably will create bed space,” Spillane said. She said the impact of the bill and other steps being taken by DHS to increase capacity amid staffing shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic “should relieve the tremendous pressure that the jails are under now. That is our goal.”
Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said the legislation would, for the first time, set a firm 60-day deadline for transport to a facility after the state receives notice of a finding of unfitness.
“If DHS cannot meet that deadline, it must provide evidence to explain its efforts to the court every month,” Abudayyeh said. “That is significantly more than required in current law, and it will help every part of the criminal system to have transparency on DHS operations.”
But Jim Kaitschuk, executive director of the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association, said there’s no limit to the 30-day delays in transfers that courts could grant after the first 60 days.
Spillane said the bill also would allow DHS to free up more beds in DHS facilities by seeking court approval to transfer some patients in the agency’s care to non-DHS treatment facilities as patients’ fitness for trial is restored.
And the bill would allow unfit defendants charged with misdemeanors to be referred to outpatient treatment rather than at DHS psychiatric hospitals, she said. But Kaitschuk said the vast majority of unfit defendants currently waiting in jails for a bed at a DHS facility have been charged with felonies.
Kaitschuk told the Senate Executive Committee on Jan. 5 that the bill is “is not the answer” to the years-long problem of unfit defendants languishing in county jails – a problem that has gotten worse during the pandemic.
Kaitschuk told Illinois Times that the delays could become even worse because the bill – part of a larger bill with provisions supported by legislators – would undo what sheriffs view as the 20-day deadline in current law for DHS facilities to accept jail inmates after being ruled unfit by a judge.
And he said it’s difficult to believe the Pritzker administration is sincere in clearing the backlog when the bill’s section eliminating the 20-day transport deadline was introduced while the state is facing a lawsuit by Campbell and five other sheriffs, both Republicans and Democrats, who are trying to enforce the deadline.
Steve McClure, R-Springfield, shared Kaitschuk’s skepticism and said the attempt to change the law and make the sheriffs’ lawsuit moot was a “disgrace.” The lawsuit is pending in the 4th District of the Illinois Appellate Court.
Spillane said various courts have ruled differently on the 20-day period mentioned in current law. Some have ruled that it’s a deadline for transferring an unfit defendant to one of DHS’ seven psychiatric hospitals, including McFarland Mental Health Center in Springfield. Some have ruled that the 20 days refers to the deadline for the state to provide notice of where an individual eventually will be placed, Spillane said.
McClure said he liked other parts of the bill but voted against it overall, as did Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield. In the House, those voting against the bill included Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Morrisonville, and Sandy Hamilton, R-Springfield. Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur, voted for the bill.
Republicans and Democrats didn’t vote along party lines as supporters or opponents of the bill, which also would delay for two-and-a-half more years the imposition of fines against nursing homes that fail to comply with minimum staffing requirements.
McClure said county jails don’t have the resources to deal with inmates with severe mental health issues who are at higher risk of deteriorating and harming themselves and jail staff members.
“Nothing is going to change until DHS is forced to do their jobs,” he said. “In the meantime, people with severe mental health issues are going to suffer.”
After Senate and House approval of the bill, Kaitschuk said: “We are disappointed in the passage of these language changes in HB 240. With that said, sheriffs will continue to advocate for the best interests of our communities and those in our custody.”
The Springfield-based Faith Coalition for the Common Good, a grassroots group that includes leaders of labor unions and religious communities, said in a written statement that it doesn’t support the amended bill. The bill “would allow the Illinois Department of Human Services to continue to neglect the needs of persons with mental health issues to languish in county jails without mental health treatment and a quick transfer – within 20 days – to appropriate mental health facilities,” according to the statement.
Shelly Heideman, former executive director of the Faith Coalition, said in the statement: “County jails do not have the adequate resources nor space to accommodate persons with mental illness, nor should this be their responsibility. DHS is being irresponsible in their ongoing neglect of this population.”
Sangamon County has a dozen jail inmates awaiting DHS treatment. Statewide, more than 200 unfit inmates and those who have been found not guilty by reason of insanity are awaiting transfer to a DHS facility for treatment, according to DHS Secretary Joyce Hou.
The number of such referrals are up 40% compared with 2021, and the number of people ordered by criminal courts into DHS custody reached an unprecedented level – 957 – in 2022, Abudayyeh said.
County jails are encountering the same staffing shortages as DHS facilities, and counties are incurring millions of dollars in unreimbursed costs when caring for jail inmates who are waiting to be transferred to DHS facilities, Kaitschuk said.
A Sangamon County judge ruled Hou and DHS in contempt in November because of delays in transferring jail inmate Breawna Miller to DHS. Hou and DHS were fined $1,800 apiece when Miller was transferred to DHS 18 days after Circuit Judge Adam Giganti’s contempt order. Those fines haven’t been paid, county officials said.
Miller, 33, of Auburn, faces domestic battery and methamphetamine possession charges.
Dean Olsen is a senior staff writer at Illinois Times. He can be reached at dolsen@illinoistimes.com, 217-679-7810 or twitter.com/DeanOlsenIT.
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