AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge has ordered the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to admit jail detainees found incompetent to stand trial into state mental health facilities within 21 days, ruling that longer delays violate their constitutional rights.
U.S. District Judge David Ezra issued the injunction in a class-action lawsuit filed by Disability Rights Texas and gave the agency four years to comply with the 21-day transfer requirement.
Ezra ruled that detaining individuals beyond 21 days while they await competency restoration treatment violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of due process.
“Wait times beyond twenty-one days are not constitutionally permissible in this case because longer wait times destroy the reasonable relation between the nature and duration of confinement and its purpose,” Ezra wrote.
Disability Rights Texas filed the lawsuit in 2016 on behalf of people charged with state crimes who remained in jail for more than 21 days after courts found them incompetent to stand trial.
Lead counsel Beth Mitchell called the ruling a significant victory for people with mental illness who have spent months or more than a year in Texas jails awaiting court-ordered treatment.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which operates the state’s psychiatric hospitals, maintains a first-come, first-served waitlist for competency restoration. Detainees remain in jail until a treatment bed becomes available.
The lawsuit argued that prolonged delays violate detainees’ constitutional rights, prolong incarceration, delay criminal proceedings and worsen mental and physical health. Plaintiffs also said some detainees remain in jail long enough to serve the maximum sentence for their charges before receiving treatment or standing trial.
Court records showed that, as of August 2025, detainees assigned to maximum-security units waited an average of 202 days for transfer, while those assigned to non-maximum-security units waited an average of 178 days.
The ruling follows a separate lawsuit filed by the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, which argued that housing hundreds of detainees awaiting state hospital placement cost county taxpayers millions of dollars. Texas appellate courts ruled that counties are responsible for detention costs and that state law does not require the agency to transfer detainees within a specific timeframe.
HHSC has expanded competency restoration programs, diversion initiatives and hospital capacity with funding from the Texas Legislature. However, Ezra ruled those efforts have not reduced wait times enough to meet constitutional requirements. State officials have told lawmakers they still expect a shortage of treatment beds through next year.
Ezra also rejected an argument from attorneys representing Gov. Greg Abbott that the case should be dismissed under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. The judge ruled that the plaintiffs were challenging the constitutionality of prolonged confinement without treatment, not the conditions of confinement in jail.
The court directed both parties to develop implementation benchmarks and a monitoring plan to ensure the agency meets the 21-day transfer requirement.
