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Committee urges feasibility plan and keeps DOC custody off the table for proposed forensic facility
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Summary
Lawmakers on the House Corrections & Institutions Committee pressed for a feasibility study and a detailed operational plan from the administration on S.193 (forensic facility) and said any forensic facility should not be under Department of Corrections custody; members debated scope, population and Medicaid/funding implications.
The House Corrections & Institutions Committee spent the second half of its April 23 meeting on S.193, a proposal to establish a forensic facility and address statewide competency restoration. Committee members pressed for a concrete feasibility study and asked the Agency of Human Services to return with an operational plan by next January.
Katie McGladden of the Office of Legislative Council presented a checklist of issues for lawmakers to consider — including the population to be served, whether the facility would be on DOC grounds or separate, who would operate it, whether competency restoration would be provided, and how out‑of‑state placements would fit into the plan.
Why this matters: Lawmakers said the state currently lacks a consistent statewide competency restoration program and that creating a forensic facility raises custody, funding and service‑delivery questions. Several members emphasized they do not want the Department of Corrections to run the facility and flagged potential Medicaid consequences if the facility is sited inside a state hospital.
Committee debate centered on three tensions: whether the facility should be narrowly targeted to a very small population (for example, people facing life sentences who are incompetent to stand trial), whether it should provide broader treatment and restoration services to a larger group, and which agency should operate and staff the facility. One member suggested a modest interim capacity ("12 to 15 bed") as a realistic near‑term option; others warned that too broad a scope could doom the bill in other policy committees.
Committee members repeatedly asked for a feasibility study and a clear operational plan that includes timeline, estimated costs, staffing, location and size. The chair framed the committee’s position as a recommendation that the administration (Agency of Human Services) return with a “real solid plan” and that statutory language should, at minimum, prevent the facility from being in DOC custody.
The committee also discussed Act 2 48 (a civil commitment pathway for people with intellectual disability), victim and community notification limits tied to HIPAA and release processes, and the tradeoffs of interim out‑of‑state placements versus building in‑state capacity.
Next steps: Committee chairs asked staff to prepare a concise summary of the committee’s conclusions and asked AHS to provide a feasibility and operational plan by January. Members signaled willingness to consider limited and tightly defined options so the proposal can advance to policy committees without broad, unfunded expansion.
