ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities is warning that the state could run out of forensic psychiatric beds within the next eight years, raising concerns about impacts to Georgia’s criminal justice system.

Forensic psych beds are used for court-ordered mental health evaluations. Commissioner Kevin Tanner says projections show that by 2034, all of the state’s forensic psych bed capacity will be full.

Tanner says the shortage is already affecting courts and local jails.

“Because they’re having to keep the person on the court calendar, they’re not able to really take an action until they get the reports back from us or the person gets restored and sent back to the court,” Tanner said.

He added that delays are also backing up local jails.

“It clogs the jail system up in local jails because they are sitting there and they’re not able to move to the criminal justice system,” Tanner said.

State officials say Georgia has two types of hospital psychiatric beds; adult mental health and forensic, and the growing demand for forensic evaluations is driving the concern.

Tanner says there are currently about 800 people waiting for mental health evaluations tied to pending court cases.

“There are many reasons a patient might need one of these psych beds,” Tanner said. “They’ve been found not guilty by reason of insanity, they’re ordered to come to us or they’re sent there for restoration and we determine we’re not going to be able to store the person, and the court order is for them to stay with us.”

Tanner says the department hopes to expand bed capacity in the coming years. This year’s budget proposal includes $20 million to add a 40-bed forensic psychiatric facility on the state’s Augusta campus, with additional expansions also being considered in Atlanta.

WSB Radio’s Jonathan O’Brien contributed to this story.