DCF head threatened with contempt over mentally ill inmates

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) — A judge has threatened to jail the head of the state Department of Children and Families over mentally ill inmates.

Florida law says jail inmates found incompetent to stand trial must be turned over to the DCF and placed into treatment within 15 days. But the agency acknowledges that it has regularly failed to do that, saying it doesn't have enough money or bed space to handle all the mentally ill inmates.

Pinellas County Circuit Judge Crockett Farnell found the agency in contempt last month and ordered fines. But Farnell has gone farther, ordering DCF Secretary Lucy Hadi to appear in court next month to answer why she shouldn't be held in contempt for failing to abide by the law.

Public defenders have filed court motions aimed at forcing DCF to treat inmates with mental illnesses in Miami-Dade, Broward and Hillsborough counties.

DCF spokesman Al Zimmerman said the agency was working aggressively to solve the bed space problem.