BUFFALO, N.Y. — A federal judge in Buffalo says he’ll dismiss charges against an accused vandal if the Department of Justice doesn’t get him into a psychiatric facility by the end of January.
The ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Roemer is the latest in a series of decisions from federal judges nationwide who’ve grown impatient with ballooning wait times for defendants deemed mentally incompetent. Instead of receiving treatment in psychiatric hospitals, mentally ill inmates presumed innocent are languishing in jails.
Prosecutors have said there isn’t a bed available for Jones Woods, who’s been jailed for nearly a year after being arrested for allegedly throwing rocks through windows at the U.S. attorney’s office in downtown Buffalo. The FBI says Woods told arresting officers he wanted to go to federal prison.
