SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A recently paralyzed inmate is illustrating the need for psychiatric treatment in Utah jails.
The Salt Lake City Tribune reports (https://bit.ly/2okaagQ ) 31-year-old Matthew Hall was on suicide watch Feb. 24 when he injured himself in his cell at Weber County jail cell. Hall is now paralyzed.
Records say Hall had been waiting for about five month to be transferred to a hospital for mental health treatment.
According to the Disability Law Center’s federal lawsuit against the state, Utah does not provide mentally ill defendants with a speedy trial and are often left in jail without treatment because the state lacks specialists to treat them. The state has recently set aside $3 million to resolve the lawsuit, but the center and the state have not reached an agreement.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, https://www.sltrib.com
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