Montana inmates with mental illness languish in jail awaiting treatment before trial

An unidentified woman lies under a blanket in a cell in the Flathead County Detention Center in Kalispell, Montana. She has been held there for nearly a year after being found mentally unfit to stand trial on burglary charges, according to a jail official. (Aaron Bolton/Montana Public Radio)

Inside the white-brick hallways of the Flathead County Detention Center, Jail Commander Jen Root walks up to a steel door and looks through a small window at the inmate.

"She's been here almost a year, just laying on her bed," she says.