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| Study Probes Va. Mentally Ill, Jail |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 12/26/2001 |
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Some mentally ill Virginians have spent years locked up in state psychiatric hospitals after entering insanity pleas for petty crimes otherwise punishable by no more than a year in jail, a state study found. The misdemeanors include such offenses as public drunkenness, cursing at a police officer and spitting in public. One man accused of breaking a window has been confined for 13 years. The Virginia State Crime Commission staff studied the issue at the behest of the General Assembly. A draft report was to be presented to the bipartisan legislative commission on December 18. 'It's troubling to me that someone could be locked up in a mental health facility far beyond the time they would have spent in jail if convicted,'' said Republican Delegate Robert F. McDonnell, the commission's vice chairman. Mentally ill defendants can plead guilty and serve a short jail term, but they are more likely to commit another crime after their release because they did not get treatment, state Sen. Janet Howell said. Data prepared for presentation to the commission shows that of about 250 people in Virginia state mental institutions for crimes, 63 committed misdemeanors. The average confinement for those 63 is three years. Howell said she will introduce legislation that would limit to one year the state's confinement of misdemeanor defendants who plead not guilty by reason of insanity. If authorities think a patient should not be released, they would have to prove it in civil court. Under the current system, patients can petition a forensics review board for release annually for five years - and every other year after that - but the burden is on patients to prove they would not endanger others or themselves. 'The situation now is a waste of tax dollars, a waste of space,'' said Valerie Marsh, state executive director of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. 'It's very unfair. There are people who need those beds.'' It costs about $160,000 a year to maintain a patient in a state mental health facility, according to the commission's data. The state's mental health commissioner, Richard Kellogg, acknowledged that changes are needed. |
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