Alabama's Mental Health Crisis: The Tragic Case of Fernando Clark

Wed Nov 12 2025 15:56:29 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Fernando Clark's death in jail highlights the dire state of mental health care in Alabama. Despite a federal consent decree aimed at improving mental health evaluations and treatments, many like Clark remain stuck in a cycle of incarceration without adequate care.

Fernando Clark died in a jail cell after spending 10 months waiting for psychiatric treatment mandated by a court. His case is emblematic of Alabama's worsening mental health crisis, severely exacerbated by cutbacks in funding and closures of facilities. While a federal consent decree set a timeline for mental health evaluations and treatment that remains unfulfilled, the waitlist at state facilities continues to grow, leaving many in dire situations.

Fernando Clark spent the last 10 months of his life in a jail cell, waiting for psychiatric treatment a court ordered he undergo after he’d been arrested for stealing cigarettes and some fruit from a gas station.

He died while waiting for the treatment that never arrived, found unresponsive in his jail cell.

Clark was just one of hundreds of people across Alabama awaiting a spot in the state’s increasingly limited facilities, despite a consent decree requiring the state to address delays in evaluating and providing care for people suffering from mental illness who are charged with crimes.

Seven years since the federal agreement, the problem is only worse. The waitlist for the state’s sole secure psychiatric facility is almost five times longer than when the decree was issued, according to court documents released in September.

Some arrestees face years waiting for placement in a facility designed to treat their illness and ensure they are healthy to go to court, a problem seen nationwide.

In Alabama, this means those charged with less serious crimes, like Clark, “spend more time waiting for a bed than if they had just pled guilty,” said Bill Van Der Pol, a lawyer with the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program, which won the federal consent decree.

Delayed progress

In 2010, the state Department of Mental Health had its budget cut by $40 million following the recession, leading to closures of at least 10 state-run psychiatric facilities over three decades. Only three inpatient facilities remain, with just one available for men facing criminal charges.

The lawsuit leading to the consent decree was filed in 2016, exposing delays in evaluations that were unconstitutional. Even after the decree, the average wait for treatment has grown alarmingly.

A national issue

The number of state hospital beds for adults with severe mental illnesses has plunged to a historic low, with more than half of the occupancy comprised of individuals committed through the criminal system. The Treatment Advocacy Center noted a 17% decline in beds since 2017.

This crisis reflects a larger trend across the U.S., with demand for mental health evaluations increasing without corresponding growth in resources.

Noticeable improvements

In response to these challenges, Alabama is currently constructing additional beds for treatment facilities and has initiated programs aimed at bypassing the bottlenecks in the evaluation process. However, staffing shortages threaten to undermine these advancements.

Nowhere to go for help

Clark, known as “Pooch,” struggled throughout his life with mental health issues compounded by substance use. His sisters attempted repeatedly to help him, demonstrating the grim reality faced by families navigating inadequate mental health resources and law enforcement's challenges in addressing mental illness.

On December 11, 2024, Clark was found dead in his jail cell, marking a tragic outcome of Alabama's ongoing mental health crisis.