MOORHEAD, MN (trfnews.i234.me) – A Moorhead man accused of killing his mother has waited in jail for almost a year for treatment at a state mental health facility so his ability to stand trial can be restored. And he isn’t alone.
On Sept. 13, Clay County Judge Tammy Merkins determined James Diawo Kollie, 26, was incompetent to proceed with his criminal case. The judge ruled his mental illness prevented him from consulting with his attorneys and helping in his own defense against murder charges in connection to the Dec. 1, 2022, death of his 56-year-old mother, Receia Kollie, at her home. As a result of Merkins’ finding, all court proceedings have been halted.
Judge Leah duCharme signed a civil order on Oct. 25 for commitment to the Forensic Mental Health Program, formerly known as the Minnesota Security Hospital, in St. Peter. Doctors will determine if his competency to proceed can be restored.
Almost 11 months after Merkins’ findings, James Kollie remains in the Clay County Jail and has not been to St. Peter for treatment. He has been in custody for nearly two years.
“Our severely mentally ill client continues to languish in jail instead of an appropriate facility suited for his needs,” said Tracy Reames, who along with attorney Nicole Bredahl, is a defense lawyer for James Kollie.
The length of time James Kollie has waited in jail without mental health help is egregious, said Dane DeKrey, a criminal defense attorney who is not connected to the case. The case probably doesn’t qualify for a due process challenge, but it feels like a due process issue, he said. “You can’t just languish in jail,” DeKrey said.
The Department of Human Services, which oversees the Forensic Mental Health Program, said 51 people with orders for civil commitment due to being declared mentally ill and dangerous are on the waitlist to get into the facility in St. Peter. The facility has 332 patients and is operating at capacity, Human Services told The Forum.
On average, those who are civilly committed wait 288 days, or nine months, to be admitted into the Forensic Mental Health Program, Human Services said. The St. Peter facility is the only one that can take on cases of civil commitment due to patients being declared mentally ill and dangerous.
“The shortage of inpatient mental health treatment beds is a very serious problem, both in the DHS-operated system and in community hospitals statewide,” Marshall Smith, the Minnesota Human Services Health System CEO, said in a statement to The Forum. “Demand for admissions greatly exceeds capacity, and we’re all doing our best to get people the treatment they need in the most appropriate setting.”
Long-term jail incarceration can be detrimental to a person’s mental health, said Wanda Bertram, a spokeswoman for Prison Policy Initiative, a group that “uses research, advocacy, and organizing to show how over-criminalization harms individuals, our communities, and the national well-being.” James Kollie could be taking several steps backward as a result of waiting so long for treatment, she said.
Receia Kollie was found dead in her Moorhead home from multiple “sharp force trauma” wounds, police said. James Kollie was arrested on Dec. 2, 2022, in Wahpeton, North Dakota. He remained in the Richland County Jail until he was extradited on Jan. 17, 2023, to Clay County. He was indicted on first- and second-degree murder charges. If convicted, he faces life in prison. A trial has not been set in the case.
Two court-appointed psychologists testified that James Kollie is unfit to stand trial because of a mental illness. He showed signs of delusional thinking, grandiosity, and paranoia, one doctor said. A third doctor suggested James Kollie was exaggerating his mental condition but could benefit from civil commitment.
DeKrey acknowledged that James Kollie is hard to sympathize with, but he noted the adage: “A society is defined by how we treat the worst off.” “It’s easy to be desensitized to that because he allegedly killed his mother,” DeKrey said. “We have to be better than that.”
There is political pushback to releasing someone who has been accused of a violent crime, Bertram said. She acknowledged public fear, but data shows most people who are released from jail while awaiting trial do not commit a new crime and are not a threat to society, especially if they have “robust community support,” she said.
“In all likelihood, this guy, as he waited for a bed to open up in the state hospital, could have been released and not been a threat to his community,” she said.
The length of stay for patients admitted to the Forensic Mental Health Program ranges from several weeks to months, resulting in slow turnover, Human Services said. The demand for space at the facility has been “very high” over the past several years and has led to wait lists, Human Services said. The Minnesota Legislature has authorized the agency to repurpose a facility in St. Peter so it can add 16 beds to the program.
“We will begin transitioning that facility in January,” the agency stated. “It will take several months to upfit the facility for its new purpose and to train more staff. We expect waiting lists to ease once the new beds are online.”
The Legislature also established a temporary framework to prioritize admissions while the state works on long-term criteria. As of July 1, the office that authorizes admissions must consider how long a person has been waiting to get into the program, the intensity of treatment the person needs, patient safety, access to court-ordered treatment, federal prioritization requirements, and “distinct and articulable negative impacts of an admission delay,” Human Services said.
The long-term framework could take several months to establish and will be more comprehensive, the agency said. A task force also is looking into trends for civil commitments in Minnesota and comparing them to other states, Human Services said. That could result in statutory change recommendations in an attempt to provide services to more patients, Human Services said. The task force also could suggest alternatives to the civil commitment process and identify options for community-based treatment.
“With input from the Priority Admissions Task Force and state lawmakers, we’re taking steps to add more beds at the Forensic Mental Health Program in St. Peter,” said Smith from the agency. “That will help in the short term, but this is a long-term problem that requires a long-term solution. More must be done along the entire mental health continuum of care to create more treatment capacity.”
Clay County Jail has the ability to administer mental health medication and treatment, Sheriff Mark Empting said. It has a contract with Advanced Correction Healthcare that allows nurses to assist in giving medication to inmates, he said. The jail also is partnered with Lakeland Mental Health Center, he said, adding Clay County was the first in the state to have a behavioral health unit in the facility.
“We do have things in place to assist inmates that have mental health issues,” Empting said. The sheriff questioned why it has taken almost 11 months for James Kollie to get a bed with the Forensic Mental Health Program. Other sheriffs have experienced long wait times for their inmates to get into the program, he said.
“Mr. Kollie definitely doesn’t belong in a jail facility,” Empting said. “He definitely belongs in a state facility.”
Hospitals and state treatment facilities are focused on helping people, while “jails are places of punishment,” Bertram said. “How would you feel if it was someone you knew or someone that you loved who had done a terrible thing but then, as a result of that, was spending a year in a facility that was totally unequipped to take care of them?” she asked. “Just putting yourself in the place of someone who is directly affected by that shows how dire these situations can be.”
James Kollie should be in a humane civil facility, DeKrey said. Keeping a defendant in jail that long while waiting for treatment at a state facility is “cruel and inhumane,” the attorney said. “If it’s that important to hold this man accountable, why are we waiting 10 months?” he said.