Judge Orders Maryland To Create Inpatient Psych Beds For Defendants With Mental Illness

The Maryland Department of Health (MDH) has until December 31, 2017 to comply with a court order to create additional inpatient psychiatric capacity for 60 defendants with mental illness. On September 28, 2017, a Baltimore judge found MDH in contempt of previous orders to provide adequate capacity for inpatient forensic competency evaluation and restoration. The judge ordered MDH to fully staff and admit detainees with mental illness to a 20-bed unit at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Jessup, and add another 40 new beds at Spring Grove Hospital Center in Catonsville and a third facility, to be selected . . .