SAN ANTONIO — Texas is challenging a federal judge’s order requiring the state to reduce the time defendants deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial wait for beds in state mental hospitals, arguing that meeting the 21-day deadline would require major system changes and significant spending.
U.S. District Judge David Ezra ruled last month that keeping defendants in jail while they wait for court-ordered mental health treatment is unconstitutional. He ordered Texas to reduce inpatient treatment wait times to 21 days.
State attorneys are appealing the requirement, arguing that meeting the deadline would force the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to undertake what they called “irreversible work” and spend “unrecoverable funds” to rebuild the state’s mental health system.
The legal dispute comes as Texas continues to face limited capacity in its state mental hospitals, leaving some defendants in county jails while they wait for treatment.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission reported that more than 1,600 people remained on the state hospital waitlist as of June. More than 400 were waiting for beds in maximum-security units, with an average wait of seven months.
Wait times have declined from the peak of the backlog. In December 2022, people waiting for maximum-security beds faced delays of up to two years, according to the commission.
Texas currently operates about 3,600 state mental hospital beds. The commission plans to add 175 beds and replace 540 existing beds next year as part of efforts to expand treatment capacity.
The state’s challenge now puts the court-ordered deadline against Texas’ ongoing efforts to increase the number of available mental health beds.