(The Center Square) – Legislation in Springfield has advanced that would change the timeline for criminal defendants deemed unfit for trial being transferred from county jails to state facilities.
House Bill 240 would eliminate the 20-day requirement to transfer mentally ill inmates to Department of Human Services facilities. The measure also essentially would shield the state from a lawsuit filed by county sheriffs in an effort to prevent mentally ill defendants from sitting in county jails for months without proper treatment.
When a court orders a criminal defendant unfit for trial, state law requires the detainees to be transferred to state custody for a fitness evaluation within 20 days. That has not been done on time, in part because of monthly executive orders the governor first issued and modified in April 2020.
State Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, said county jails around Illinois don’t have the resources to deal with inmates who have severe mental health issues.
“To create a piece of legislation that causes people that need mental health treatment now to not get that and not have any timeline that is firm that says to DHS that you have to get this person out of local custody is a disgrace,” McClure said.
The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Ann Gillespie, D-Arlington Heights, said during debate the bill would create more opportunities for DHS to free up beds in psychiatric hospitals for jail inmates, but admitted more needs to be done.
“With regard to trying to solve all of the mental health crisis, nobody in this room disagrees that we have a mental health crisis we need to solve, but we can’t let perfection be the enemy of the good,” Gillespie said.
The Senate passed the bill and sent it to the House, which concludes the lame duck session on Wednesday.
