Committee hears bill to authorize jail‑based fitness‑to‑proceed evaluations amid provider and cost concerns

Representative James Reavis, sponsor of House Bill 2 36, told the House Health and Human Services committee the bill would codify an existing Department of Public Health and Human Services practice allowing fitness‑to‑proceed evaluations to take place in detention centers or state prisons that meet department standards.

"Our Montana and U.S. constitutions require that someone be fit to proceed before a criminal case can be completed," Reavis said, and the bill aims to keep evaluations timely by permitting qualified psychiatrists, psychologists or advanced practice nurses to evaluate defendants where they are when appropriate rather than transporting them to the Galen Forensic Mental Health Facility.

Supporters said the practice reduces delays. Matt Kuntz, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness for Montana, said the measure returns to earlier practices that reduced solitary confinement and helped jails and courts…