Lakes Crossing expansion sought

Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005 | 8:13 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Mentally ill defendants are filling county jails awaiting space at a state mental health center where they can get treatment.

As of Friday there were 11 people in Clark County jail awaiting transfer to Lakes Crossing, the state mental hospital in Sparks, where people awaiting trial are treated until they are deemed mentally competent to stand trial. There also are two inmates in rural Nevada and one in Reno.

Carlos Brandenburg, state Division of Mental Health and Developmental Services administrator, said all 56 beds at Lakes Crossing remain full.

On June 24 the Nevada Disability Advocacy and Law Center sued Brandenburg and other state officials alleging that the rights of mentally ill defendants were being violated.

Lynn Bigley, who filed the suit, could not be reached for comment Monday.

Brandenburg is scheduled to ask the state Board of Examiners today for $1.6 million to expand Lakes Crossing by 28 beds. If the board approves the request, the Legislative Interim Finance Committee will consider using money from a $10 million fund for emergencies.

Brandenburg said U.S. Magistrate Robert Johnson has ordered the state to start treating these individuals.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in an Oregon case that a delay in transferring defendants for treatment to competency violates their rights to due process. It said that a lack of funds, staff or facilities do not justify a state's failure to provide treatment.

Brandenburg said the state Public Works Board will expedite the expansion as an emergency construction project, but it will probably be April before the expansion is complete. A bed opens up at Lakes Crossing only when a defendant is found mentally competent to stand trial and is returned to the county. The state is building a 150-bed mental hospital in Las Vegas, but that is not intended to be used for criminal defendants.

The plan going before the examiners board calls for $272,518 to be spent on construction. It would expand Lakes Crossing by eight beds and would open an unused section of the Dini-Townsend mental hospital in Sparks for 20 beds.

The division is asking for funding to pay 31 more staff members and other costs.