{"id":8682,"date":"2026-02-11T05:55:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T11:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/11\/it-sure-looks-like-a-crisis-lawmakers-confront-mental-health-backlog-in-missouri-jails\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T05:55:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T11:55:05","slug":"it-sure-looks-like-a-crisis-lawmakers-confront-mental-health-backlog-in-missouri-jails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/11\/it-sure-looks-like-a-crisis-lawmakers-confront-mental-health-backlog-in-missouri-jails\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It sure looks like a crisis\u2019: Lawmakers confront mental health backlog in Missouri jails"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Missouri Mental Health Director Valerie Huhn discusses Gov. Mike Kehoe’s proposed budget for her department in a House Budget Committee meeting Tuesday (Steph Quinn\/Missouri Independent).<\/p>\n

Missouri has just eight outpatient beds for people charged with crimes who have been ordered to undergo mental health treatment so their cases can move forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those beds are full. So are the state\u2019s 440 psychiatric hospital beds that serve Missourians ruled incompetent to stand trial because of a mental illness or cognitive disability.<\/span><\/p>\n

There were 524 Missourians as of last week waiting for one of those spots who require treatment and services from the Department of Mental Health. Of those, 446 are in jails throughout the state \u2014 incarcerated indefinitely without being convicted of their alleged crimes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another 78 are out on bond, their cases stalled until a court can decide if treatment has restored them to competency.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lawmakers confronted the scale of that backlog Tuesday during a House Budget Committee hearing, as they examined the growing strain on the state\u2019s mental health system for people charged with crimes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt sure looks like this is a crisis,\u201d said Republican state Rep. Greg Sharpe of Ewing.<\/span><\/p>\n

State Rep. Betsy Fogle of Springfield, ranking Democrat on the committee, said persistent, growing numbers of Missourians stuck in jail without trial puts the state \u201cin scary territory.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re forcing someone to be held in a jail without providing them the pathway of getting out, whether or not they were guilty\u2026of that crime,\u201d Fogle said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Independent has <\/span>documented<\/span><\/a> the <\/span>growing<\/span><\/a> waitlist<\/span><\/a> for mental health services for more than three years. The statewide average number of people on the waitlist in January was 518, an increase from 505 in December, according to data shared by the department with The Independent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe waitlist has more than doubled in size since July 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

A <\/span>federal lawsuit<\/span><\/a> filed in November alleges that the department has illegally denied timely competency evaluations and restoration treatment to Missourians with mental health and cognitive disabilities who stand accused of crimes.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Mental Health Director Valerie Huhn shared initiatives the department is pursuing to slow the growth of the waitlist, lawmakers said the state isn\u2019t doing enough.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gov. Mike Kehoe\u2019s proposed budget for fiscal year 2027 recommends $6.1 million to expand the state\u2019s current outpatient competency restoration capacity from eight beds, which are in a group home operated by University Health in Kansas City, to 50. About $3 million would come from the state\u2019s general revenue, while almost $3.2 million would be federal funding.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fogle said the proposal is \u201ctoo incremental.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEven with this additional funding, even if we\u2019re able to move 50 individuals off the waitlist,\u201d Fogle said, \u201c\u2026I\u2019m still concerned that we\u2019re going to come back here next year and the year after and see significant wait lists.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The department in the last two years has launched four <\/span>jail-based competency programs<\/span><\/a> in St. Louis city and county, as well as Jackson and Clay counties. These programs, which were authorized by a <\/span>2023 state law<\/span><\/a>, can serve up to 40 people at a time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Huhn told lawmakers the department is looking for a location to replace the Clay County Sheriff\u2019s Office, which is <\/span>terminating<\/span><\/a> its agreement with the department after the pilot failed to decrease its backlog.<\/span><\/p>\n

A hospital expected to open in Kansas City in 2029 or 2030 will have 150 beds \u2014 100 for competency restoration and 50 for long-term care.<\/span><\/p>\n

Forensic mobile teams of clinicians that visit jails to provide medications to people awaiting services have also seen successes, Huhn said. In fiscal year 2025, 166 people attained competency due to the work of those teams, according to the department\u2019s appropriations book<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kehoe\u2019s proposed budget recommends a $15,000 cut to those teams in fiscal year 2027.<\/span><\/p>\n

Huhn added that the department uses \u201cany open bed\u201d in its facilities to provide competency restoration treatment, including in its full-time habilitation centers housing Missourians with acute developmental disabilities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Disability advocates and families worry that proposed funding reductions for services that help people with disabilities <\/span>stay safely in their homes<\/span><\/a> will push some into these institutions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Republican state Rep. Mike Steinmeyer of Sugar Creek said there\u2019s a need to find novel responses to what is \u201cnot a new problem.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t just keep coming back year after year, saying the same things,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m looking at the backlogs growing, and our budgets are growing. We\u2019re going to have to be innovative.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2018Doesn\u2019t scratch the surface\u2019<\/h4>\n

\t<\/p>\n

Republican state Rep. John Black of Marshfield, the co-chair of the subcommittee covering health, mental health and social services, said Kehoe\u2019s proposed budget for the department doesn\u2019t reflect broader bed shortages throughout the department\u2019s facilities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis $6 million, it seems to me, probably doesn\u2019t scratch the surface of what happens in the entire process,\u201d Black said, \u201cparticularly with regard to those persons that are determined [permanently incompetent] to stand trial.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Not everyone who undergoes competency restoration treatment is deemed by a court to be competent to move forward with their trial. Patients who are ruled permanently incompetent to stand trial continue to live in state-run hospitals \u2014 sometimes for years \u2014 before they can be approved to be conditionally released.<\/span><\/p>\n

Huhn said the department has beds in St. Joseph, Farmington and St. Louis where this long-term care can take place.<\/span><\/p>\n

People who are ruled permanently incompetent to stand trial go to other state-run hospitals for long-term placement when there are beds available. If there are no open beds, they remain in the facilities where they were undergoing competency restoration treatment until a spot opens up.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

More than 500 Missourians await court-ordered mental health services, languishing in jails<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Dr. Jeanette Simmons, deputy director of the department\u2019s Division of Behavioral Health, said that when someone receiving outpatient treatment is ruled permanently incompetent to stand trial, the provider contracted to provide that treatment would try to find them long-term placement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Black asked Simmons what would happen if the provider didn\u2019t have an open bed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think you just told me you only have these eight beds available, and even if incompetency is determined\u2026you don\u2019t have a place for them to go for sure right now,\u201d Black said. \u201cThey might be stuck taking up one of those eight beds.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Simmons said that was accurate, and that the same goes for state-run hospitals providing competency restoration treatment.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

No guarantees<\/h4>\n

\t<\/p>\n

Lawmakers asked what changes to Kehoe\u2019s proposed budget would be helpful, but representatives of the department hesitated to make suggestions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fogle asked Nora Bock, director of the department\u2019s Division of Behavioral Health, if the department needs more funding for its forensic mobile teams.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we appropriate more dollars on this line, will we see that wait list of 524 reduced?\u201d Fogle asked. \u201cDo you need more money on this line?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bock described the teams as \u201can integral part of our multi-pronged effort\u201d and \u201ca game-changer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But she stopped short of asking for additional money.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe would increase our opportunity to reach more people who are on the list,\u201d Bock said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Republican state Rep. Darin Chappell of Rogersville, the subcommittee chair, said his understanding was that there would be no guarantee that those individuals would be allowed to proceed with their trials.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no guarantee for some individuals that they\u2019ll ever reach that,\u201d Chappell said. \u201cThey may end up being on a wait list for long-term mental health care.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Huhn said this was correct. <\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Missouri Mental Health Director Valerie Huhn discusses Gov. Mike Kehoe’s proposed budget for her department in a House Budget Committee meeting Tuesday (Steph Quinn\/Missouri Independent). Missouri has just eight outpatient beds for people charged with crimes who have been ordered to undergo mental health treatment so their cases can move forward. Those beds are full….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018It sure looks like a crisis\u2019: Lawmakers confront mental health backlog in Missouri jails - WestplexNews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/11\/it-sure-looks-like-a-crisis-lawmakers-confront-mental-health-backlog-in-missouri-jails\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018It sure looks like a crisis\u2019: Lawmakers confront mental health backlog in Missouri jails - WestplexNews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Missouri Mental Health Director Valerie Huhn discusses Gov. 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Mike Kehoe’s proposed budget for her department in a House Budget Committee meeting Tuesday (Steph Quinn\/Missouri Independent). Missouri has just eight outpatient beds for people charged with crimes who have been ordered to undergo mental health treatment so their cases can move forward. 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