The Hays County Commissioners Court unanimously approved the submission of three letters of support from three different Hays County elected officials regarding a Jail-Based Competency Restoration Program at the regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday. These letters of support would ensure that the Hill Country Mental Health and Development Disabilities Centers could apply for funding in order to implement the program within the Hays County Jail.
Karen Muñoz, a Hays County attorney, spoke in opposition of the program.
“Competency restoration is not about treatment,” Muñoz said. “Competency restoration is narrowly focused on stabilization, symptom management and required legal education. In effect, this means that competency restoration exists so that the state can punish people for their disabilities or for the behaviors that are a result of their mental illness. It favors judicial proceedings above all else.”
