Matt Jennigs
In April 2020, a mother was hiking the “M” trail in Missoula with her 13-year-old son for a
needed respite from the Covid-19 lockdown. Their peace was shattered when they ran
into Jared Kuntz, who repeatedly punched her and smashed her face with a rock. Her
son ran down the mountain for help while uncertain of his mother’s fate. While the mom
lived, her body and sense of security were shattered.
This tragedy was not inevitable. It was the predictable result of Montana’s deficient
mental health system.
This was not Jared’s first mental health crisis. Like many people who suffer
from severe mental-health disorders, he had a familiar pattern. He stopped taking his
medication. His behavior was increasingly bizarre. His family sought help. They could
not get it. His crisis nearly killed a woman, traumatized a young man and took away
Jared’s liberty.
By the time he was sentenced, Jared was back on his medications. He was no longer in
psychosis. He was rational, remorseful and sorry. He was sentenced to a lengthy
incarceration at the Forensic Unit of the Montana State Hospital – the facility where
criminal defendants with severe mental health conditions go.
Most people with mental illnesses are non-violent and pose little risk to the public. They
should be treated with dignity and compassion in alternative systems to criminal justice.
Unfortunately, a small subset of people with mental illnesses are violent or continually
disruptive. These people are overrepresented in our criminal justice system because
our mental health system is under-resourced, undersized and lacking options that do
not involve handcuffs and bars.
The Missoula County Attorney’s Office civilly commits approximately 250 people a year
to the Montana State Hospital. We also prosecute dozens of individuals with serious
mental health issues who committed crimes each year. 13% of Missoula’s current jail
population are people who have been legally committed to the Montana State Hospital
due to their mental health conditions, often waiting a year or more for an available spot.
They need mental health care. They sit in jail instead. While mental health is not the
largest contributor to crime, it represents the greatest opportunity to make rapid
improvements to make our communities safer and ensure better individual and
community outcomes.
The Montana Legislature has made good-faith attempts to fund improvements to our
mental health system. This includes a $300 million investment in 2023, and funding for
a new forensic mental health hospital in 2025, which is in the early stages of
development in Laurel. These good intentions have hit a bureaucratic wall though and
have had negligible results on the ground.
I share some sympathies with the people of Laurel who oppose a new mental health
hospital in their community. They are rightfully frustrated by the lack of information from
the State. At a recent public meeting in Laurel, the State sent two staff members with no
information or authority to answer questions, leaving the community frustrated and
hostile. This silence breeds a predictable “not-in-my-backyard” backlash.
There are reasonable questions about the facility. Is Laurel the best place for a new
hospital? What will it cost to run it? Are there more affordable options with the same or
better outcomes? These are legitimate concerns.
Montana desperately needs more forensic hospital beds as a middle ground between
doing nothing and prison for mentally ill criminal offenders. These individuals
are already in our communities. They fill up beds in our jails, clog our hospital
emergency rooms and roam our streets — without help and without treatment
until it’s too late. A hospital is a safer, secure and more dignified option than the status
quo.
But building an effective mental health system requires more immediate, proactive
solutions: re-funding mental health case managers that were cut in 2017, increasing
Medicaid reimbursement rates for mental health services to provide community
services, funding community group home residences, developing viable discharge plans
for the mentally ill instead of dropping them off at homeless shelters, and partnering with local hospitals to treat mental-health issues on the front end. Had some of these
resources been in place in 2020, Jared Kuntz may never have started up the “M” Trail
that day.
Mental health care can follow a preventative path to intervene before a crisis, or it can
serve people after a crisis. Focusing only on building a new lock-down forensic hospital
fails to seize an opportunity to prevent disruptive incidents in the first place and is
generally more costly than prevention. A new hospital is expensive and would not be
operational for years. It is necessary but should not be our only investment. Money is
best spent on preventative measures to intervene in mental health crises before they
result in a crime.
The money for the Behavioral Health System for Future Generations was appropriated
three years ago and could have transformed our mental health landscape. Much of it
has either not been spent or squandered in studies, training and bureaucracy that has
little practical impact on the ground.
While additional hospital beds are being built, the State must invest in jail-based mental
health care and restoration of fitness to stand trial to divert people away from hospital
beds before they deteriorate. Jail-based competency restoration does not require new
buildings, and the operation costs are a fraction of a new hospital. Montana could transform its mental-health system in a matter of a couple of years under existing
appropriations while a new facility is being constructed.
Tragedies like the one on the “M” Trail can be prevented with real and viable solutions.
Communities across Montana have numerous solutions to reduce crime, alleviate jail
pressure, reduce homelessness, help families with mental-health crises and reduce
recidivism for less money and better outcomes. What we need now is State support
and funding to make these solutions a reality.
Missoula County Attorney Matt Jennings