Monday, March 16, 2026 |
Photo – Carbon County Jail and Communication Center – Bigfoot99 file photo
Governor Gordon signed a bill to reimburse counties for providing mental health services to inmates.
On Friday, March 6th, in the presence of Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak and his command staff, Governor Mark Gordon signed Senate File 10 into law. The bill, titled Contracts for Holding and Treating Mentally Ill Detainees, allocates funding for counties to hold and treat individuals convicted of a crime, but found mentally unfit to stand trial.
During the March 2nd Wyoming Senate session, Laramie County Senator Jared Olsen explained that the bill pays counties to provide mental health services to detainees while they wait to be transferred to the Wyoming State Hospital in Evanston.
Senate File 10 gives the Wyoming Department of Health authority to contract with county jails for the “security, examination, or treatment of accused persons” who have been charged with a crime but found incompetent to stand trial under Title Seven of the state’s criminal code.
Speaking at the February 23rd House Appropriations Committee meeting, Wyoming Department of Health Director Stefan Johansson explained that Senate File 10 will not only reimburse counties for the time detainees spend waiting to be transferred to the state hospital but also pay jails to provide mental health services to those individuals while they wait.
Detainees can often wait up to five months for a bed to become available at the Wyoming State Hospital, which places significant financial pressure on counties and mental stress on inmates.
The Wyoming legislature allocated $5 million for the program.
Last July, the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office launched a pilot program with the Wyoming Department of Health similar to what is outlined in Senate File 10. The county used $700,000 in Special Purpose Sixth Penny Tax funding to build two specialized calming pods in the Laramie County Detention Center, with cityscape murals and increased access to natural daylight. Additionally, the Department of Health provided psychiatric care through telehealth, allowing doctors to evaluate inmates and prescribe medication remotely.
To support the program, the jail added a psychiatric nurse practitioner and mental health nurses to its medical team. Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak reported that within the first year, several inmates were stabilized on medication and able to return to the general jail population. By late 2025, the jail reported a significant decline in suicide attempts.
During the signing of Senate File 10, Sheriff Kozak was quoted as saying, “The mental illness crisis within our jail system is a big issue. This bill will help detention facilities better treat and manage these individuals.”
