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Lake County officials on Monday renewed their plea that state agencies resolve the institutional logjams that are hobbling the local justice system. District Court Judges Molly Owen and John Mercer hosted the meeting where local prosecutors and defense attorneys gave state lawmakers and a state attorney a gutting perspective of the criminal justice system's overlapping crises caused by backlogs at state institutions. Montana State Hospital, the "safety net" facility for people who are involuntarily committed due to severe mental health needs, recently told Owen they would no longer be accepting patients on an immediate basis. For criminal defendants who need evaluations in order to be prosecuted, the wait times are so long that Owen said she has been compelled to dismiss their cases. Lake County criminal justice stakeholders meet to discuss institutional logjams that are hobbling the local justice system on Monday, Nov. 25. "This was a criminal case with a victim," she told the group of a recent case she dismissed. "It's not something I wanted to dismiss and people will disagree with what I did, but (the defendant) is sitting in a jail, she's mentally ill and we released her to fend for herself, basically." Jail populations are another weave in the criminal justice quagmire. County jails are overcrowded because the state's prison system is overloaded. Corrections officials , and still hundreds of people who have been convicted wait in county facilities for a state prison bed to open up. Lake County Sheriff Don Bell described not pursuing suspects who are wanted on warrants simply because of overcrowding. As of Monday, the Lake County jail held 16 state-custody inmates in their 42-bed facility. "If it's someone who's violent, we'll try to make room," Bell said. "But then we push over our limit that we're supposed to be at." "When you let people just wander around for four years with warrants, they generally get worse," County Attorney James Lapotka said. The Montana Department of Corrections does pay counties a per diem to hold state-custody inmates in local jails, but it doesn't cover the cost. Lake County gets roughly $89 per inmate per day from the state. But the cost of housing inmates is actually $137 per day. However, the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, which oversees the Montana State Hospital where people are involuntarily committed, does not reimburse county jails for holding those patients before they can be seen at the psychiatric facility, Lapotka noted. Lake County Sheriff Don Bell gives public comment on the county's intent to withdraw from Public Law 280 on Dec. 12, 2022. Chad Parker, chief legal counsel for DPHHS, appeared by video to represent the department at Monday's meeting. "The problems you have annunciated are very familiar with us," he said. "I don't know if people believe this when we say this or not, but our hearts are breaking over this, too." Parker and a handful of legislators raised the near-term initiatives approved in the last year from the state's new behavioral health commission, staffed by stakeholders, lawmakers and agency heads converging in attempts to find gaps and use the initiatives to fund short-term solutions. The mental health evaluations for criminal cases, for example, can now be done in community settings with grant funding from the state. But that money was , and the conversation in Monday's meeting was largely a replay from one of the commission's hearings in 2023. But, as it was described at the outset of the behavioral health commission's work, it will take a great deal of time to fix a long-broken system, officials said Monday. Part of the commission's $300 million budget includes planning out new psychiatric care facilities, although details of that proposal have yet to take shape. The 2025 Legislature, which has so far handled the matter in bipartisan fashion, will be tasked with keeping this project on that long-term pace. Rep. Bob Keenan, R-Bigfork, has steered the commission thus far but did not seek reelection this year. A handful of holdover lawmakers in attendance Monday reiterated their grasp on the issues and renewed their commitment to the work ahead. Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, has been in the Legislature for 10 years and said he's likely to retire after the end of his four-year term to which he was just elected. "I've never spent a lot of time in DPHHS or DOC issues, I'm going to change that," he told local officials near the conclusion of Monday's meeting. "Living here, and looking all around the state, it's really become a huge issue. ... I will dedicate my next four sessions to helping out. I promise to make that commitment." Seaborn Larson has worked for the Montana State News Bureau since 2020. His past work includes local crime and courts reporting at the Missoulian and Great Falls Tribune, and daily news reporting at the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell. Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. State Bureau Reporter {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.winph99. com 。

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