ACLU of Pennsylvania files new challenge over jailing of mentally ill News
1662222 / Pixabay
ACLU of Pennsylvania files new challenge over jailing of mentally ill

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania filed a new complaint against the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) Tuesday over the jailing of mentally ill individuals.

The new complaint comes several years after the ACLU of Pennsylvania first brought “a lawsuit on behalf of people who have been found too mentally ill to stand trial but who are housed in jails instead of healthcare facilities.” The lawsuit was originally filed in 2015, “when some people who were found incompetent to stand trial were spending a year or more in jails before being transferred to hospitals.” While wait times have decreased, “many patients are still waiting four months or more in jails for treatment.”

The new complaint “argues that any wait in jail beyond seven days is unconstitutional, as other federal courts have found.” It also asks the court to do two things. First, it asks that the court issue a preliminary injunction stating that Pennsylvania is “in violation of the plaintiffs’ right to due process and right to be free of improper detention.” Second, it asks the court to order Pennsylvania “to reduce wait times to seven days by September 1.”