U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson has suspended a hearing to consider whether Alabama Department of Corrections officials should be held in contempt of court for not meeting deadlines on expanding the mental health staff in the state's prisons.
Thompson's order does not set a date for the hearing to resume. It says the hearing was put on hold "pending mediation and resolution of the monitoring issue."
Attorneys representing inmates had asked Thompson to hold the state in contempt and appoint a monitor to oversee compliance with the court's orders. Thompson ruled last year that the DOC's mental health care was "horrendously inadequate" and violated the prisoners' constitutional rights. The staff increases are part of efforts to find a remedy.
Attorneys for the DOC said the prison system's new health care contractor, Wexford Health Sources, Inc., was making extensive efforts to recruit more staff but had faced difficult circumstances in meeting the hiring goals Thompson ordered in February. The DOC's attorneys say they still expect hiring targets to be met by early next year.
Thompson scheduled the hearing for the DOC to show why it should not be held in contempt. The hearing started on Tuesday, with DOC Associate Commissioner for Health Services Ruth Naglich testifying for most of the day.
Southern Poverty Law Center Attorney Maria Morris, who is representing the inmates, said the question of how to monitor the DOC's compliance with the judge's orders is ongoing and will be the subject of an upcoming hearing that was already planned before the contempt issue came up.
Bill Lunsford, an attorney representing the DOC, said the agency is seeking clarification on the court's orders regarding mental health staffing. Lunsford said the court will hold a a hearing on that motion on Thursday.
"ADOC expects that the Court will issue an opinion on the ADOC's motion to clarify at some point in the near future," Lunsford said in an email. "After the Court rules on ADOC's pending motion for clarification, the parties have agreed to return to mediation to discuss how ADOC and its mental health vendor will continue to fill vacant mental health positions."
The Legislature boosted the DOC's funding by $80 million over two years, with much of that money intended to increase mental health staff and correctional staff. Thompson found that staff shortages were on overarching issue in the mental health care problems.
Updated at 8:51 p.m. with statement from DOC attorney Bill Lunsford.