People with mental illness can languish in jail. This Pennsylvania county thinks a new mobile clinic can help.
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters.
Every year, hundreds of Pennsylvanians languish in jail because they're considered mentally unfit to stand trial, despite conditions that can worsen their state and plunge them deeper into the criminal justice system.
To avoid that scenario, Allegheny County has created the state's first mobile competency restoration clinic. The program will assess and treat people who have been charged with a crime, but can't aid in their own defense because of a mental or behavioral health issue.
The move expands access to this treatment, which is generally available only at two state hospitals. Supporters hope it can become a model for other counties, where as of now, people deemed 'incompetent' to stand trial can wait months for a bed.
The county also plans to change how local courts handle cases involving competency issues, a move intended to prevent people from getting lost in the system, especially for low-level crimes.
These announcements come two years after a Spotlight PA investigation identified serious issues with Pennsylvania's competency system.
The 2023 investigation found that the legal process meant to help people instead routinely traps them in jail, where they may deteriorate further.
The story highlighted one woman, Rachel Bridgeman, whose precarious mental health trapped her in the Allegheny County Jail while she awaited treatment, despite the minor, nonviolent charges she faced.
Allegheny County officials say the new clinic will ensure people like Bridgeman aren't incarcerated just because they need competency restoration, a specific type of psychiatric therapy that helps them understand their legal situation.
'I think there's a lot of agreement where we don't always have a lot of agreement on these cases,' said Erin Dalton, director of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services.
'People see that this isn't good for anyone.'
The county's public defense office and other advocates for criminal defendants see the program as a step forward.
But advocates said the changes could go further, citing the county's ongoing practice of holding people in jail before their competency can be determined. They also expressed concern that the court will refer people to the program who are not able to regain their competency.
'I think we are cautiously optimistic that, if this is well-intentioned with the competency docket or mobile office restoration, that it will be employed legally,' said Sarah Linder Marx, a deputy director in the Allegheny County public defender's office.
'But we are definitely approaching it with a healthy level of skepticism,' she said.
Outside Allegheny County, just two places — Torrance and Norristown State Hospitals — provide the specific therapy needed to both improve someone's mental health and help that person understand their legal situation.
Both hospitals have a limited number of beds, which has created a backlog of people waiting for treatment. They often sit in jail.
On average, Allegheny County has about 125 people waiting for competency restoration annually, according to county officials. But Torrance has about 100 beds to serve all of Western Pennsylvania.
In 2023, a Spotlight PA analysis found most individuals undergoing competency assessments or waiting for restoration faced misdemeanors that could stem from experiencing mental health issues in public.
'We don't want people held on low-level offenses who we think are safe to be supported in the community,' Dalton said. 'And now the district attorney and the judges and everyone have another option which they just haven't had before.'
Centurion, a private prison health care company, has signed a one-year, $1.9 million contract with Allegheny County to provide competency restoration therapy both within the county jail and in community settings.
The team is mobile, with no fixed home base, said Debbie Scovill, who oversees behavioral health care in the Allegheny County Jail.
'So, a lot of their services are done at the jail,' Scovill said. 'They do have some partners in the community, like if they have a desire to run a group or to do meetings with patients, they can use spaces at those partnering agencies to do some boots on the ground in locations, but they are pretty much mobile.'
The itinerant design was intentional, said Jenn Batterton, who manages collaborations between the justice system and the county human services department.
People may be at different phases of involvement with the justice system, she said, 'but the hope is that now more often, we'll be able to serve them in the least restrictive setting, so neither Torrence nor the jail, but in the community.'
The program will serve only Allegheny County for now, but others may soon follow suit. Both Bucks and Delaware Counties are pursuing similar programs.
In concert with the new effort, the Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania will next month debut a separate docket, or calendar of cases, dedicated to cases involving competency issues.
Gathering these cases in one place will help expedite them and ensure people get needed care sooner, Allegheny officials argued.
Both the mobile restoration team and the new competency-focused docket are promising, said Samantha Sridaran, who leads a team focused on cases involving mental health within the Allegheny County Office of the Public Defender.
'I've had several conversations with [the mobile competency restoration team],' Sridaran said. 'I think they have really great ideas about how to really, actually, truly help our clients in the long term.'
But Sridaran, Linder Marx, and other advocates for criminal defendants told Spotlight PA they worry about unintended, criminal consequences of any court-ordered program.
'If things don't go well, we are still encapsulating people in the criminal legal system, and there's always potential things may escalate even further,' Linder Marx said. 'I just don't want this to be employed as a weapon against individuals, if it were to not work as intended.'
Sridaran has also seen judges order competency restoration for people who cannot be restored: those who have unchangeable conditions such as intellectual disabilities, traumatic brain injuries, or cognitive impairment.
And Allegheny County has still not resolved an underlying issue that imposes a 'behavioral hold' on individuals who are suspected to be incompetent to stand trial, effectively keeping them in jail while someone without a mental health condition may have walked free. The county public defender's office has argued is illegal.
Ideally, these individuals would be evaluated within 48 or 72 hours by the court system's behavioral assessment unit. But advocates said the delay can be longer; in the 2023 investigation, Spotlight PA found Bridgeman waited two weeks.
'The public defender's office's position is that no one should be incarcerated because they're incompetent,' Linder Marx said. 'That's not in line with the spirit or intent of … our laws. That's not a reason to incarcerate somebody.'
If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at spotlightpa.org/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Pa. House passes bill to raise the minimum wage
The state Capitol in Harrisburg. (Capital-Star file) The state House voted along party lines Wednesday to raise the minimum wage to $15 for most Pennsylvanians, and to $12 for those working in smaller, rural counties. It's a significant step in the latest effort by Democrats to get it above the federal rate of $7.25. Pennsylvania's minimum wage has not been hiked since 2008 and is lower than all surrounding states — New York, Ohio, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. The measure's sponsor, House Labor and Industry Committee chair Jason Dawkins (D-Philadelphia), said the bill is in an attempt to compromise with Republicans who have long warned about the potential impacts on businesses, especially in smaller counties with a lower cost of living. 'Since I've been chair, we've been trying to figure out a different approach to get this done,' Dawkins told the Capital-Star. 'This time around, we had a little bit more insight into where our challenges lie, one particularly being that some of our counties were worried about moving too quickly, and some were not comfortable going over $12.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE A previous bill sponsored by Dawkins passed the House in 2023, but died in the Republican-controlled Senate. And in 2019, the Senate passed a Democratic-led bill to raise it to $9.25, which died in the then-GOP-controlled House. Dawkins' latest bill would see the minimum wage rise gradually each year, reaching $15 in most counties on Jan. 1, 2028. It would also raise the tipped minimum wage from $2.83 to 60% of the minimum. Counties with populations below 210,000, with the exception of Centre, Monroe and Pike counties, would only see the minimum wage rise to $12 in the same timeframe. A spokesperson for the House Democratic Caucus said the three smaller counties were put in the $15 bracket at the request of Democratic members who represent them. One exception to the gradual rise to $15 would be Philadelphia County, which Dawkins represents. There, the minimum wage would rise to $15 on January 1, 2026. 'Philadelphia has the highest population of folks who are in what we call deep poverty levels,' Dawkins said. He added there is particular urgency given the possibility some of those people may lose access to federal benefits like Medicaid and food assistance under a proposed bill moving through the GOP-controlled U.S. Congress. 'We wanted to have some type of safety net there because we know those folks might be losing benefits and other services,' he said. But Dawkins' attempt to offer an olive branch to GOP lawmakers in the form of gradual wage hike and a lower target in small counties appears to have failed in his own chamber. Every House Republican voted against the bill, and many criticized it during a two-hour debate on the floor Wednesday afternoon. 'Not every wage is designed to be a livable wage,' Minority Leader Jesse Topper (R-Bedford) 'My 16-year-old son is not working for a livable wage. Someone who is retired and is helping out part-time, that is not necessarily a livable wage.' He also warned that raising the minimum wage could result in the elimination of low wage jobs and harm small businesses in particular. Others opposed the very provisions Dawkins said were intended to earn bipartisan support. Rep. Kate Klunk (R-York) warned that creating different minimum wages across counties could lead to confusion for businesses that cross county lines, or encourage business owners to set up shop where the wage is lower. 'This county-based patchwork of minimum wages is going to be a mess,' Klunk said. She used examples of businesses with locations in York and Adams counties as examples, including golf courses that straddle the border between them. 'This bill is truly unworkable,' she said. 'It is a compliance nightmare.' Rep. Mike Jones (R-York) was one of few Republicans to signal openness to raising the minimum wage during debate, but said he could not support Dawkins' bill. 'I do commend the majority chair for what I think is a good faith attempt at a reasonable compromise,' he said. However, he added that he would want to see exceptions to the minimum wage for nonprofits and high-school aged employees. 'Potential to find middle ground' To become law, the bill will have to pass the Republican-controlled Senate. Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana) said that there may be room for compromise on a minimum wage increase, especially if paired with Republican-backed deregulation efforts he said could help grow 'maximum wage jobs.' 'Making sure working families have access to good, family-sustaining jobs is key to helping our commonwealth grow and thrive,' Pittman told the Capital-Star in a statement. 'There is potential to finding [sic] a middle ground for an increase, but any possible action would need to be a commonsense adjustment, and sensitive to the impact changes would have on small businesses and non-profit organizations.' Republican Sen. Dan Laughlin (R-Erie), who has previously introduced a bill to raise the minimum wage to $15, commended the House's effort, but said he would not support a bill with a county-by-county approach. 'While I appreciate that the House is trying to advance the conversation, I do not support HB 1549 in its current form,' Laughlin said in an emailed statement. 'A minimum wage tied to county size just deepens the economic divides we're supposed to be addressing. If we're going to get serious about raising the minimum wage, we need to do it uniformly across the state, not with a patchwork approach that leaves people behind based on where they live.' Laughlin was an early Republican supporter of raising the minimum wage to $15 in Pennsylvania. But national trends may indicate more openness from members of his party this time around. On Tuesday, conservative U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) introduced a bill to raise the minimum wage to $15 for all Americans. He told NBC News, 'If we're going to be a working people's party, we have to do something for working people. And working people haven't gotten a raise in years. So they need a raise.' His comments reflect an openness to his party's increasing appeal to working class voters that was made apparent in the latest general election, which saw them move away from their traditional support of Democrats. Dawkins, the Pennsylvania bill's sponsor, is also aware of the shift, and hopes that it will help the bill earn the support that it needs to pass. 'I'm excited by the prospects, but I'm also disappointed that there could be a federal minimum wage that's gonna be higher than the state minimum wage — and it's being offered by one of the most conservative members of Congress,' he joked. 'But I'm hopeful it'll help folks come around to the idea.' 'This is what I believe we got elected to do,' he added. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Minimum wage would be $15 in big counties, $12 in smaller ones under novel bill passed by Pa. House
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania would raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour in 20 of its counties, and to $12 in the rest under a bill the Democratic-controlled state House passed Wednesday. It's a new approach for the chamber that is designed to win critical Republican support, and it comes after years of unsuccessful attempts to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour across the entire state. Pennsylvania's minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since the federal minimum went up in 2009, and has stayed stagnant even as every neighboring state has set a higher floor. Under the House bill, Pennsylvania's biggest county, Philadelphia, would see its minimum wage immediately jump to $15 an hour on Jan. 1, 2026. In the next 16 most populous counties, including Allegheny, Erie, and Lancaster, the minimum wage would move to $12 an hour at the start of 2026, increase to $13 an hour the following year, then jump to $15 an hour in 2028. Three smaller counties, Centre, Monroe, and Pike, would also be included in this tier — all three have at least one Democratic representative, and a spokesperson for House Democrats said they had been included in the tier 'at the request of our members.' For the other 47 counties, the minimum wage would increase to $10 an hour in 2026, then grow by $1 each year until hitting $12 an hour in 2028. All counties would also receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment starting in 2029. That COLA would be based on consumer price data from Pennsylvania and neighboring states, as collected by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The minimum wage for tipped workers, such as those in restaurants, would also increase under the measure. These workers are currently paid $2.83 an hour, and the bill would require employers to pay them 60% of their county's minimum wage. The proposal passed the state House 102 to 101, along party lines. It now goes to the Labor and Industry Committee in the GOP-controlled state Senate for consideration. State Rep. Jason Dawkins (D., Philadelphia), the prime sponsor of the state House bill, told Spotlight PA he hopes Senate Republicans see the legislation as a sign of good-faith negotiation. Speaking on the state House floor Wednesday ahead of the bill's passage, he told his fellow members it would impose 'a living wage that transforms all communities throughout Pennsylvania.' Dawkins tried to pass a minimum wage hike last legislative session, too, but that proposal would have simply raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour across the state. The bill passed the state House, but Senate Republicans did not act on it. Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has also called on the legislature to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour during each of his annual budget proposals since taking office. State Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) has said he isn't opposed to a minimum wage increase in principle, but in 2023 as House lawmakers considered Dawkins' last bill, he said that $15 an hour is 'not a practical number.' It could, he said at the time, negatively impact nonprofit organizations that provide essential services, such as in-home medical care. In a new statement to Spotlight PA, Pittman said it is possible the legislature could find 'a middle ground for an increase to the minimum wage,' but that any change would need to be a 'commonsense adjustment' that is sensitive to the impact on small businesses and nonprofits. More of his attention, he said, is on 'maximum wage jobs.' He cited a Senate GOP proposal that would prevent Pennsylvania from participating in a carbon cap-and-trade program as an area of focus, and said his caucus also wants to keep making it easier for builders to get project permits. Dawkins said his new minimum wage tier approach is a response to feedback from people like Pittman. 'The hope,' he said, 'is to create a dialogue.' He said this approach is also designed to address counties' differing needs without repealing Pennsylvania's minimum wage preemption law. First put in place in 2006, the last time Pennsylvania raised its wage on the state level, the law requires that any change to the minimum wage be made by state lawmakers. This prevents larger, more expensive cities like Philadelphia from acting independently to raise their wages. Philadelphia's mayor and city council president sent state lawmakers a letter in April asking for authorization to set a higher minimum wage, saying that as the state's biggest municipality, it has 'unique circumstances' and is 'faced with both increasing housing costs and high poverty levels, issues that an increased minimum wage could alleviate.' City officials aren't the only ones who feel this way. The head of Brandywine Realty Trust, a major employer in Southeastern Pennsylvania, sent a letter last month asking for a higher statewide wage, saying it makes sense 'from a business perspective' because 'better-paid workers are more reliable, more productive, and more likely to stay with their employers.' As part of the trade-off of trying to appeal to state Senate Republicans, Dawkins' bill is a difficult pill to swallow for some of the more progressive members of his caucus. State Rep. Chris Rabb (D., Philadelphia) said he supports the measure but wishes it raised wages higher and didn't allow separate minimum wages to be set for tipped workers, and for workers who are incarcerated or have disabilities. He called it the 'lowest common denominator,' but added, 'at least it moves us in the right direction.' 'For those of us who believe in a living wage for all, it's a hard vote to take,' Rabb told Spotlight PA. Rabb plans to introduce legislation that would eliminate separate minimum wages for tipped or incarcerated workers and workers with disabilities, plus repeal the state's preemption of local wage laws. Still, he acknowledged that Senate Republicans are likely to oppose those provisions. He called Dawkins' bill a 'good-faith effort.' 'We know that the Republican controlled Senate is not likely to move on this bill, and if they do, they're going to ask for their pound of flesh,' Rabb said. Senate Republicans most recently voted to raise the minimum wage in 2019, under former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. That proposal would have set a statewide floor of $9.50 an hour. However the state House, which was then controlled by Republicans, declined to take it up. At least one state Senate Republican supports a $15 minimum wage. Sen. Dan Laughlin (R., Erie) introduced a bill last session that would have raised the floor to $15 an hour by 2026. He told Spotlight PA that he plans to re-introduce similar legislation before the end of June. State Sen. Christine Tartaglione (D., Philadelphia), a longtime advocate for raising the minimum wage, said she feels lawmakers are getting 'a little bit closer' to agreement on the issue. Still, key details remain unresolved, she said — particularly a consensus among Senate Republicans on the appropriate wage floor and how to handle cost-of-living increases. 'So far, that's been the block,' Tartaglione said of the COLA. The bill now heads to the Senate Labor and Industry Committee, where Chair Sen. Devlin Robinson (R., Allegheny) called the House measure a good place to 'get the conversation started,' and said he's open to a COLA. But he said he still plans to introduce his own proposal to raise the wage to a still-undetermined 'reasonable' floor. Marc Stier, the executive director of the progressive Pennsylvania Policy Center, said that he's 'hopeful but uncertain' that lawmakers will be able to get the bill over the finish line. Stier thinks that a key factor will be how hard Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro pushes for the change, saying that he has to know 'the governor's bottom line.' He's hoping that after funding public education, raising the minimum wage is Shapiro's second priority. 'We've been talking this to death,' Stier told Spotlight PA. 'There's not much more to say.' If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Bill slashing ticket fees passes Pennsylvania House
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — Massive ticket fees may soon be a thing of the past in Pennsylvania. The House passed a bipartisan bill Wednesday that takes aim at the ticket resale market. Known as House Bill 967, it would cap fees ticket resellers can charge at 5% for the buyer and 5% for the seller. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Reps. Mary Isaacson (D-Philadelphia) and Tom Mehaffie (R-Dauphin) proposed the bill, citing exuberant fees on some of Pennsylvania's favorite pastimes, such as Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins games. Some fees cost as much as 55%, according to a co-sponsorship memo for the bill. 'These undue and extremely high fees put a burden on ticket prices and only serve as barriers for hardworking Pennsylvanians who want to cheer on their favorite sports team or see their favorite musical artist play,' Rep. Isaacson said. The representatives aren't the ones aiming for ticket fees. Last month, the Federal Trade Commission required ticket sellers to disclose total costs upfront, including fees. Pennsylvania House passes bill to expand AG oversight of health system transactions While he acknowledged companies need to make a profit, Rep. Mehaffie said, 'the reseller and company should not be setting fees so high that they are depriving others of the experience' to attend live events. The bill passed in a 108-95 vote. It now heads to the Senate for consideration. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
