Texas attorney general supports guardians for mentally impaired jail inmates

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott told Tarrant County officials in an opinion this week that local courts do not have the authority to bypass appointing a guardian for mentally impaired jail detainees who refuse to take medication.

The Tarrant County district attorney’s office had asked Abbott’s office in August whether the Texas Health and Safety Code, subsection 773.008(2), authorizes a court to order emergency medical treatment of a local jail inmate.

In an opinion dated April 28, the attorney general’s office said the code does not expressly say or imply that the courts can “order emergency medical treatment of local jail detainees.”

Assistant District Attorney David Hudson said the issue comes up in only “a handful” of cases each year. One inmate refused to take medication for chronic medical conditions such as diabetes.

“We had a situation where the probate courts were trying to use this statute independent of any order,” Hudson said. “There was a question of, Is that really appropriate? We were just trying to see what can and can’t be done with this statute.”

Lin Morrisett, an associate judge for Probate Judge Patrick Ferchill, said the probate courts would prefer not to take away an inmate’s rights when medication may resolve the issue and said the district attorney’s office phrased the question in a way that guaranteed it would get the answer it was seeking.

“If a less-restrictive alternative exists, I would use it,” said Morrisett, who added that he isn’t sure the attorney general’s opinion resolved the issue.

Morrisett said the issue could surface again the next time the probate court has to deal with one of these cases.

Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said the issue comes up infrequently.

“It was very rare, maybe once a quarter, where an inmate was incapable of making medical decisions,” Anderson said. “There was a concern among the lawyers and the probate courts about what the law said.”

Advocacy Inc., an Austin-based federally funded legal services organization whose mission is to protect people with disabilities, weighed in on the issue last fall. In a letter to Abbott, the organization said the Health and Safety Code “does not create an independent, stand alone ‘right’ for a court of record to order medical treatment for inmates with mental illness.”

Attribution:

Texas attorney general supports guardians for mentally impaired jail inmates
Bill Hanna
April 30, 2011
Star-Telegram.com
http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/04/29/3038846/texas-attorney-general-supports.html#tvg