Federal district court rejects attempt to cut monthslong delays for mental health treatment at hospital
BY: RACHEL MIPRO
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — In the latest legal move over “one of the worst ongoing human rights crises” in the state, a federal district judge denied a request to temporarily block long wait times at Larned State Hospital.
If the preliminary injunction had been granted, the state would have been prohibited from “maintaining a waitlist with wait times in excess of 30 days” at Larned, Kansas’ largest psychiatric facility.
“This case is about some of our most vulnerable community members. Because of the court’s ruling, hundreds of people on the waitlist for Larned will continue to languish for indeterminate months in our county jails, under conditions that exacerbate rather than treat mental illness,” said Sharon Brett, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas.
“We are disappointed by the court’s ruling, but we do believe that with the benefit of the full discovery, our clients’ claims — and the Constitution—will ultimately prevail.”
The 2022 lawsuit and preliminary injunction, filed in federal court by the ACLU of Kansas, the National Police Accountability Project of the National Lawyers’ Guild and Stinson LLP, took aim at long delays for people waiting for mental health evaluation and treatment at Larned State Hospital.
The case was filed against the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services, which oversees the hospital. In some cases, people who face criminal charges have had to wait behind bars for as long as 13 months before receiving a pretrial competency evaluation, according to the lawsuit.
Due to this wait, some spend more time incarcerated while waiting for an evaluation than they would if they had been convicted. The lawsuit is on behalf of four individuals in this position, but the lawsuit estimates more than 100 people are currently on the waitlist. The lawsuit is ongoing.
“The law requires Kansans charged with crimes to be mentally competent to stand for trial,” said Lauren Bonds, executive director of the National Police Accountability Project of the National Lawyers’ Guild. “But KDADS’s inability to quickly and effectively evaluate that competency, and treat individuals whose competency is lacking, is a flagrant violation of the rights of already vulnerable people, and it constitutes one of this state’s worst ongoing human rights crises.”