Kansas has promised to provide more hospital beds for mentally ill criminal defendants to settle a federal lawsuit filed over defendants waiting months for evaluations of whether they were fit for a trial.
The agreement between state officials and representatives of five defendants requires the state to “use its best efforts” to open a new psychiatric hospital by January 2027 in Wichita, the state's largest city. Officials also must seek funding from the Kansas Legislature to reopen a previously closed 30-bed unit at its psychiatric hospital in Larned in western Kansas, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) northwest of Wichita.
