SAN MARCOS — The Hays County Commissioners Court approved a letter of support at its Jan. 7 meeting for a jail-based competency program.
Letters of support from several county staff members were given to the court prior to the meeting, including from Hays County Criminal District Attorney Kelly Higgins and commissioner Michelle Cohen.
Newly-elected Hays County Sheriff Anthony Hipolito was also in favor, stating that, “Without such a program, individuals requiring competency restoration face prolonged wait times for transferring to existing programs, leading to delay in the legal process and infringing on their liberties. These delays can also exacerbate mental health challenges and place additional strain on our local criminal justice and healthcare systems.”
Hays County resident Sam Benavides spoke during public comment. She first began by complimenting the work that the county has done thus far through the Mental Health Court, which provides access to research-based treatment options and aims to reduce recidivism, but quickly noted that, across the nation, many mental health professionals have pushed back against the idea of jail-based competency restoration programs.
According to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, these programs “provide competency restoration services in a designated space in a jail separate from general population. Services include mental health and substance use treatment services, as well as legal education for people found incompetent to stand trial.”
“I can understand why many individuals at the table believe this program would bring a positive service for the community, but I ask that you assess what the real goal is in initiating this program. Is it to offer these individuals meaningful treatment so that they can enter the communities and live healthy lives or is the goal simply to get cases through the system, regardless of what their outcome is and how those outcomes will impact individuals in their future,” prompted Benavides.
Attorney Karen Munoz shared a similar sentiment to Benavides. After research, attending summits and simply her experience in the field, she stated that something that has been made clear is that competency is not about treatment, but the ability to stabilize and give required legal education, so that inmates with disabilities can be tried due to behaviors that result from their mental health status.
Munoz stated that the wait for an incompetent individual often exceeds the maximum penalty for the offense charged, compelling the state to dismiss the case immediately.
“The state auditor system released a report recently that agrees this is a problem. ‘Those who timed out, including those who are indigent, are required to be released even if their competency has not been restored,’” read Munoz, who then shared a story that she had recently experienced.
The attorney stated that a mother had recently reached out to her for help, as her child was in the Hays County Jail and was going to be “timed-out” soon. Worried about what would happen to her child after release, due to serious mental health issues, his mother begged to connect him with services to aid her child in avoiding the constant in-and-out cycle of jail. After release, he was, once again, arrested a few days later, said Munoz.
“It was only one story, but in each case, every single time a mother has reached out, they’ve over and over and over again tried — and so have their children — to get help themselves and were denied at the right time, at the right place and they ended up in jail and that is the problem we should be solving,” Munoz concluded.
Higgins immediately commended Munoz and recognized that what he is “asking the court to do is subject to abuse,” but that, due to his 20 years of experience as a defense lawyer, he isn’t seeing it from the way other DA offices are seeing it.
“If there is a finding of incompetence [in an arrested individual], that person stays in jail unless bonded out and placed on a list. That list — to go to a state hospital for restoration — has been as much as 20 months. Although recently I am told it is less, [but] I don’t care if it’s half of that; it is too long,” he stressed.
These people that are incompetent may be, as Munoz stated, in jail due to an expression of their mental illness and they do need the ability to receive outpatient treatment, continued Higgins, but they may not have a place to stay for this treatment: “Often by the time a young man with schizophrenia is 20, 21, they have upset the household so much that they are not welcomed back and you will hear from parents — and I did many, many times in my 20 years as a defense lawyer — that ‘We want him in jail. It is the safest place,’ from the parent’s point of view … The jail isn’t safer. The staff isn’t safer. The other inmates and the person themselves aren’t safer in a jail. We do need a diversion center so that the person probably, maybe, didn’t go to jail in the first place. We need outpatient resources, but because we need other things is not an argument against jail-based competency restoration.”
According to a report given to Higgins from Williamson County, which began the same program in January 2024, the average time for restoration is 40 days.
“The existing regime is the worst possible arrangement for someone … To restore someone isn’t to say, ‘Good. Now we can convict them.’ To restore someone is to say, ‘Now we can take a look at this case, talk about what the best resolutions are in light of a mental health diagnosis,’” said Higgins, who stated that his office has worked closely with the Mental Health Court for this program and that Hays County is moving toward a more mature mental health future.
Commissioner Cohen stated that although she shares similar concerns that were presented to the court, she believes that she will be close to the issue to ensure that, if approved in the future, these services and the oversight is appropriate for the county.
“I do believe that this program has the right intentions in place. There are needs that we currently do not have; we do need a diversion center, but I do think the compassion of the DA’s office is shown with this program and I think it’s in the right hands,” said commissioner Morgan Hammer.
The program, if approved in the future, would be through a partnership with Hill Country Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Centers.
Anthony Winn of Hill Country MHDD stated that it is the organization's goal to meet and care for residents wherever they are, which, in the case of this program, would include discharge planning. Winn stated that this means that someone would be working with the individual to actively establish what the next step in their road to recovery is.
Additionally, the Hays County Mental Health Court also supported the program.
“The state won’t step up. That’s why I believe in small and local control because I support that philosophy, as well. It’s our job to take care of our residents, however that may look,” said Judge Ruben Becerra.
The item to approve a letter of support to Hill Country MHDD was passed unanimously.
To listen to the discussion, visit bit.ly/40q5dqp.
