ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – A judge threatened the state Department of Children and Families with thousands of dollars a day in fines if it does not begin taking in mentally ill jail inmates, as required by law.
Florida law requires the agency to move county jail inmates found incompetent to stand trial to treatment facilities within 15 days. But law enforcement officials and inmate lawyers across the state say the agency’s inaction has left many languishing in jail for months.
In one of the toughest rulings on the issue, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Crockett Farnell said Friday that he will fine the agency $1,000 a day for each mentally ill inmate who remains in the Pinellas jail longer than 15 days. He may also require placement in more expensive, private treatment facilities.
“This type of arrogant activity cannot be tolerated in an orderly society,” Farnell wrote in a ruling in favor of public defenders representing several inmates.
Farnell set a Nov. 16 hearing to check on the agency’s progress. There are now about 30 mentally ill inmates in the Pinellas jail who should have been moved to state mental health facilities weeks or months ago.
The Department of Children and Families said it will appeal the decision. The agency said the 1,300 beds available in its current budget are inadequate to meet the demand.
“It’s a matter of trying to catch up and trying to work with the legal system to try to find a way to at least find a temporary solution to this problem,” agency spokesman Al Zimmerman said. “We are very eager to work with the judicial system to solve this problem.”
Officials around Florida are becoming impatient. In the Panhandle, for example, a judge threatened to have a mentally ill inmate dropped off at department Secretary Lucy Hadi’s office if the agency couldn’t find a hospital bed.
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