From KVUE:
“This week, a federal judge in Austin ruled that making mentally ill detainees wait months for proper treatment is unconstitutional. The lawsuit was first filed by Disability Rights Texas, an advocacy agency, in 2016. According to Disability Rights Texas, at the time of the December 2025 trial on the lawsuit, approximately 1,700 people found incompetent to stand trial were waiting an average of six months in county jails for transfer to state mental health facilities for restoration services, with some waiting more than 500 or even 600 days.
Disability Rights Texas said the court ruled that the delays cause detainees “severe physical, psychological and other harms” including psychiatric deterioration, malnourishment, self-harm, death, harm to their criminal cases and confinement in jail far longer than competent detainees.
‘This is a significant victory for the thousands of people with mental illness who have been left in Texas jails for months — and, in many cases, more than a year — without the treatment and competency restoration services they were ordered to receive,’ said Beth Mitchell, lead counsel for Disability Rights Texas. ‘As the Court noted, the evidence heard at trial was clear that without an injunction, HHSC would continue its practice and detainees found incompetent to stand trial would continue to suffer.’ ”
Watch or read the full story from KVUE.