During his six months in the Tarrant County Jail, Kai’Yere Campbell kept asking his mom, “Am I going home?”
For a long time, Shantel Taylor didn’t have an answer for him.
Campbell is intellectually and developmentally disabled, according to Taylor, and a schizophrenia diagnosis in 2021 added another challenge. At 21, he can’t remember phone numbers, addresses or the year he graduated high school.
“He’s functioning on a childlike level,” Taylor said.
Campbell was living at a group home when he was arrested in December. He allegedly assaulted a group home worker, according to the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, and he’s been charged with injury to an elderly person.
Taylor said her son was having an “episode” and group home staff wanted him taken to the hospital, not jail.
KERA reached out to the Fort Worth Police Department (FWPD), asking for their account of the arrest and for an interview about when they decide to make arrests at group homes.
Two months later, the court declared Campbell incompetent to stand trial. That kicked off the competency restoration process — a court-ordered course of treatment designed to make sure someone can be prosecuted while understanding the charges against them.
People often have to complete the competency restoration process at a state psychiatric hospital. Some can also go to a state supported living center, a state-run facility for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who have behavioral issues.
People with intellectual and developmental disabilities are more likely to be victims of crimes than people without disabilities, according to The Arc, a national disability rights organization.
They’re also more likely to be arrested and charged with crimes, and to serve longer prison sentences.
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