TOPEKA — Law enforcement officials in Kansas say fentanyl is now a greater threat than methamphetamine, and are sounding alarm bells about fentanyl and the mental health crisis statewide.
Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeffrey Easter said: I still see a surplus of inmates suffering from mental illness, Long waits in prison for treatment. At a meeting of the House Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice on Tuesday, he urged lawmakers to find a solution.
Regional hospitals and prisons in western Kansas have been forced to accommodate mentally unstable patients without state compensation due to a lack of beds for mental health workers and patients. I had to.
Cases of people deemed to be a danger to themselves or others are reviewed by the district attorney’s office and held in county jail until a hospital bed is made available.
Easter said they have problems with a huge backlog of competency assessments and long waiting lists of people awaiting mental health treatment in prison. said that it has become Sedgwick County Jail is currently operating with a shortage of 121 workers.
He referred to a prison inmate with mental health issues who was paralyzed from the waist down and had a history of self-harm. rice field.
After going to the district attorney about the situation, a judge ordered Larned State Hospital to evaluate him. Two weeks later he was returned to prison. The inmate should have his leg amputated, but he is against the procedure.
“We’re faced with a decision: Do we let this person rot in prison? Because basically he’s rotten,” Easter said.
Easter also warned of a rise in fentanyl-related deaths and said states need to do more education about the dangers of fentanyl.
“We found fentanyl in marijuana. We found fentanyl in cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and all other drugs. Fentanyl is in everything,” Easter says.
During the conference, Bel Air Police Chief Darrell Atebery said more needs to be done about repeat juvenile offenders. .
“Whereas 18-year-olds used to commit a lot of crimes, now 14- and 15-year-olds are committing the same crimes that older children used to commit.” Ateberry said.
Atebery said a more thorough public safety risk assessment needs to be done on repeat offenders to keep them and others safe for their age.
“We hope to strengthen that assessment so that these juveniles can be detained or removed from the environments that led them to commit criminal acts in the first place.
