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House Bill 240, now law, removes the 20-day requirement to
transfer criminal defendants deemed unfit for trial from county
jails to to Department of Human Services facilities and protects
the state from future legal action from law enforcement agencies
over failure to place an inmate in proper care.
The provision is included in a larger bill that modifies various
areas of public health policies.
State Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, said large bills like
HB240 usually include an unfavorable provision, such as removing
the placing requirement.
"The problem with bills this large is sometimes there is a
massive, horrific poison pill that is put in," McClure said
during the lame-duck session. "This is that poison pill."
Jim Kaitschuk, executive director for the Illinois Sheriffs'
Association, said this creates more problems for agencies
already dealing with a surplus of inmates with mental health
issues.
"We have a growing mental health crisis across the state and
across the country, and in fact, many of the people who are in
our custody right now have mental health issues and have been
referred to try and get treatment for that," Kaitschuk said.
"This provision takes it to a whole other level of putting these
folks in a 20-day requirement to now 60 days that they will have
to be in county jails."
Kaitschuk said that placing these defendants in proper care
settings has been an issue for Illinois for quite some time.
"This is not a new issue, but it's been exasperated by the past
several years," Kaitschuk said. "[Department of Human Services]
has not been abiding by that requirement in terms of getting
people to those facilities in a timely basis."
The bill's sponsor, state Sen. Ann Gillespie, D-Arlington
Heights, said during debate that HB240 could provide some
opportunities for DHS to free up beds in psychiatric hospitals
for jail inmates but said more steps need to be taken.
"With regard to trying to solve all of the mental health crises,
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 bill was signed into law by Pritzker earlier this month.
Andrew Hensel reports on issues in Chicago and
Statewide. He has been with The Center Square News since April of
2021 and was previously with The Joliet Slammers.
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