‘Cruel and unconstitutional’: DCF sued, accused of jailing defendants unfit for trial for months

A lawsuit has arrived one year after Florida Politics detailed how the Department of Children and Families’ (DCF) failure to move mentally ill inmates into treatment centers due to insufficient funding from the Legislature exposed the state to costly legal action. Disability Rights Florida has filed a federal complaint accusing DCF of leaving people deemed incompetent to stand trial by a court stuck in county jails for months — far beyond the two-week deadline required under state law. Lawyers from the Southern Poverty Law Center, Florida Justice Institute and the Washington law firm Terris Pravlik Millian filed the suit, which names DCF interim Secretary Kathryn Williams as the defendant in her official capacity. At issue: a state law that gives DCF 15 days to move a defendant found incompetent from jail to a state mental health treatment facility once it receives a court’s commitment paperwork, after which the criminal case is frozen until the defendant regains competency. The laws