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Sponsor seeks to keep Galen beds available for pretrial fitness restoration, opponents call for study
Summary
Rep. James Reavis introduced HB237 to prevent courts from sentencing GBMI defendants to the State Forensic Mental Health Facility (Galen) so it can prioritize pretrial fitness restoration; DPHHS and county attorneys warned the measure could reduce placement flexibility and urged study and amendments.
Representative James Reavis (Downtown Billings) told the House Judiciary Committee HB237 aims to clear a backlog of defendants awaiting fitness restoration by preventing courts from sentencing GBMI (guilty but mentally ill) defendants to Galen, the State Forensic Mental Health Facility, and by directing courts to commit defendants to the custody of DPHHS for placement rather than naming Galen specifically.
Reavis said Galen is a 50-bed facility intended to stabilize pretrial defendants and that sentenced GBMI placements have filled beds and created a bottleneck that has, in high-profile instances, resulted in speedy-trial…
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