Nearly 20 years after Florida’s family welfare chief was fined and resigned after her agency failed to move mentally ill inmates into treatment centers, the state is once again in court over the same problem, which has worsened since.
In an ongoing case in Leon County , the Department of Children and Families ( DCF ) was ordered this month to explain why it shouldn’t be held in contempt for failing to transfer Tara Carty, a 46-year-old defendant declared incompetent to stand trial, to a forensic hospital within the 15 days required by state law .
DCF General Counsel Andrew McGinley offered a jaw-dropper of an explanation. The agency isn’t in “willful non-compliance,” he said, as it would transfer Carty on time if it could. But the agency is physically unable to meet that deadline