New York City Sued In Class Action Over Long Delays In Competency Restoration For Offenders Deemed Mentally Unfit To Stand Trial

The Legal Aid Society announced that it filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH), the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), and NYC Health + Hospitals. The lawsuit challenges "systemic, unlawful delays in providing competency restoration treatment to people found unfit to stand trial and committed to a state hospital under New York’s Criminal Procedure Law § 730." It also challenges what it called "the failure to assess whether people can receive competency restoration services in . . .