The Texas Supreme Court declined to take up Dallas County’s appeal to revive a lawsuit over wait times for mentally incompetent inmates Friday, leaving a lower court’s dismissal of the case in place.
Dallas County and Sheriff Marian Brown sued the Texas Health and Human Services Commission — or HHSC — in 2023. The suit accused the agency, which operates state hospitals, of not accepting legally incompetent Dallas County jail inmates at those facilities in a timely manner. The county estimated it costs more than $7.5 million to detain inmates caught in the backlog.
The 15th Court of Appeals dismissed the suit last year, ruling all counties have to bear the cost of detaining inmates, and the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure doesn’t require HHSC to move people into state hospitals within a certain time frame.
“While many lawsuits have attacked prison overcrowding over the years, the County identifies no case in which a Texas court has ever construed (the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure) to place a limit on overcrowding either in local jails or in the state hospital system,” 15th Court of Appeals Chief Justice Scott Brister wrote in an August 2025 opinion.
Without an opinion, the state’s highest court denied the county’s petition to review the 15th Court of Appeals’ decision.
KERA News reached out to the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office and the Health and Human Services Commission for comment and will update this story with any response.
Mentally ill inmates deemed incompetent to stand trial must have their competency restored in psychiatric care before criminal proceedings. But the long wait list means many detainees who aren’t eligible for bail must wait in county jails for state hospital space for months or even years.
In early 2023, Dallas County had more than 360 people waiting for treatment in jail, 311 of which were on HHSC’s waitlist for more than 45 days, according to court filings. The county argues the commission has to transfer inmates to state hospitals in a reasonable amount of time, and when it doesn’t, the backlog forces taxpayers to foot the bill to house detainees and incurs debt for the county.
Before filing the suit, Dallas County commissioners wrote a letter to HHSC asking the agency to find mental health beds for detainees or face a lawsuit.
A Travis County district court rejected HHSC’s request to dismiss the case, so the state appealed to the Third Court of Appeals. It was later transferred after the creation of the statewide 15th Court of Appeals in 2023, which now handles any appeal of a lawsuit against a state agency.
Dallas County unsuccessfully challenged the constitutionality of the 15th Court of Appeals. Its attorneys argued the court shouldn’t have judicial power over the entire state, and the court’s three governor-appointed justices unfairly maintained their positions past the 2024 general election.
The Texas Supreme Court ruled the creation of the 15th Court of Appeals was constitutional. However, justices didn’t rule on the merits of Dallas County’s case — and they still haven’t.
The 15th Court of Appeals agreed with HHSC that the law only requires the agency to transfer inmates to hospitals in a timely manner once the transfer has already begun, not when the detainee is in jail before the transfer.
The court acknowledged there is “no easy solution to the problem of criminal acts by those with mental health conditions.” The Texas Legislature did allocate more than $2 billion in 2023 to build, refurbish or replace state hospitals and ordered the agency to prioritize admitting mentally incompetent detainees to state medical facilities.
But lawmakers rejected bills that would have forced HHSC to accept transfers within 21 or 45 days.
“We do not infer that the Legislature necessarily rejected those as goals,” Chief Justice Scott Brister wrote, “but we cannot infer from their failure that this Court has authority to impose them judicially.”
Toluwani Osibamowo is KERA’s law and justice reporter. Got a tip? Email Toluwani at tosibamowo@kera.org.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
