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Judges call on Md. legislature to assert itself in mental health issue
ANNAPOLIS — Members of Maryland’s judiciary Tuesday called on legislators to ensure that the state health department promptly care for criminal defendants waiting for court-ordered psychological evaluations for possible commitment or to determine their competency to stand trial.
Baltimore City District Court Judge George Lipman asked members of four legislative committees to re-enforce its legislative intent that dates back to the 1960s and to find a way to provide more staff for state psychiatric hospitals.
“This is a serious problem, one that needs serious attention,” Lipman told members of the House Judiciary and Health and Government Operations committees and the Senate Judicial Proceedings and Finance committees.
Lipman made his comments while also praising the efforts of Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Secretary Van T. Mitchell, who the judge said is working to solve the problem.
“One thing I think is very clear to me is that Secretary Mitchell is very sincere in taking ownership of this issue,” Lipman said. “However, there is a dichotomy.”
Lipman said that while Mitchell is working to increase the number of beds at five state hospitals, lawyers for the state health department are arguing that the law is not clear and that court orders aren’t always being followed.
Lipman called on legislators to “re-affirm legislative intent that when a court determines someone is incompetent that it’s the legislature’s intent that the (health) department house them.”
Lipman also asked the legislature to do what might seem like an over-reach into executive authority and find money to provide extra staff for the department, saying that it can’t all be done within the existing state budget.
“He (Mitchell) needs staff,” Lipman said. “We can’t do it with smoke and mirrors. There has to be resources.”
Currently, there are 12 people in Maryland who have been ordered to be transferred from jails in the state to psychiatric facilities because of mental health or competency issues.
District Court Chief Judge John Morrissey told legislators that while that number is significantly down from the nearly 90 cases or so earlier this year, the judiciary is concerned about the delay, noting a letter in which lawyers for the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene said it would no longer honor orders of the court.
“The concern for the judiciary is that our court orders are not being followed,” said Morrissey. “In much the same way that you wouldn’t expect a jail to set a broken arm, a jail is not an appropriate place for these individuals to get mental health services.
“We don’t expect it to be immediately but we do expect it to be promptly,” Morrissey said.
“We don’t like to hold people in contempt or even raise contempt issues,” said Morrissey.
Morrissey said the courts will be tracking commitment issues to see how long the delays are.
The issue, which dates back a decade, has taken on new importance after Mitchell was called into court twice in the last month in Baltimore City to face contempt of court allegations.
In both cases, Judge Gale E. Rasin dismissed the charges, saying she believed Mitchell was forthright in his explanation of the problem and his attempts to deal with it.
Legislators Tuesday expressed a desire to deal with the issue.
“It’s certainly a problem that’s been crying out for a long time for an answer and hopefully we’re going to get to the answers,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph Vallario, D-Prince George’s County.
Significant delays in transferring those individuals from jails to psychiatric hospitals raises a number of legal concerns, Morrissey said.
First, because the individuals are not convicted of a crime and have been determined to be incompetent, they cannot be held in a jail. In some cases, Morrissey said, individuals have been transported to state hospitals only to have those facilities refuse them and send them back to the jails.
Morrissey said that creates issues of liability for jails, which are responsible for the safety of the individuals they supervise.
Legislators said the illegal detaining of persons not convicted of crimes raises its own legal issues.
“Those 12 in the jails are being illegally detained, and we need to find the beds to treat them,” said Del. Kathleen M. Dumais, D-Montgomery County and vice chairwoman of the Judiciary Committee.
Rasin last month warned Mitchell of her “nightmare scenario” in which she imagined having to release a person charged with murder who was illegally held in jail after being ordered into a state psychiatric hospital.
Mitchell and other health officials outlined their plans to address concerns, including how to save money to pay for needed renovations and re-allocate overtime and hire additional staff to expand services.
Dr. Erik Roskes, director of the state Office of Forensic Services, told legislators the department is working to address the problem as evidenced by a reduction of the number of people awaiting placement in a state hospital.
“All I can tell you is our numbers show the situation is improving,” Roskes said.
“This is a little like steering the Titanic,” Roskes said. “It takes time. I hope we don’t meet the iceberg.”
