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Kansas ACLU request to halt excessive wait times at Larned turned down by judge
Federal district court rejects attempt to cut monthslong delays for mental health treatment at hospital
BY: RACHEL MIPRO - DECEMBER 19, 2023 11:31 AM
The state of Kansas faces a federal class action lawsuit over delays in mental health evaluations at the chronically understaffed Larned State Hospital. (Kansas Reflector screen capture from KDADS video)
The denied request marks the latest action in a lawsuit that has been ongoing for more than a year. (Kansas Reflector screen capture from KDADS video)
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.”
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Rachel Mipro
RACHEL MIPRO
A graduate of Louisiana State University, Rachel Mipro has covered state government in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. She and her fellow team of journalists were 2022 Goldsmith Prize Semi-Finalists for their work featuring the rise of the KKK in northern Louisiana, following racially-motivated shootings in 1960. With her move to the Midwest, Rachel is now turning her focus toward issues within Kansas public policies.
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