While a court fight over the practice rolls on, Governor JB Pritzker has extended an executive order suspending the legal requirement for the state to transfer mentally ill jail inmates into psychiatric care within 20 days.
The state has frequently failed to meet that deadline in recent years, a situation that got worse after the COVID pandemic hit in 2020 and Pritzker issued an order suspending the requirement. A Sangamon County judge recently held the state Department of Human Services in contempt for failing to meet that statutory deadline for one Sangamon County Jail inmate. There have been at least a dozen local inmates who have remained in the county jail this year past that deadline.
Pritzker’s latest order suspends the statutory requirement through at least July 24th. State’s Attorney Dan Wright says he’s reviewing the order and weighing his options.
