The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — A mentally ill prisoner accused of strangling a cellmate at the Los Angeles County jail was not placed in solitary even though he was facing trial over a similar slaying in state prison, officials said.
Mental health workers concluded that Kurt Karcher was fit to be in the general jail population instead of placing him in the wing for mentally ill inmates at the downtown Twin Towers jail, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
He is accused of killing Jose Daniel Cruz at the jail on May 22.
Karcher, a convicted killer who has bipolar disorder, was transferred to the jail to face charges of strangling his previous cellmate at the state prison in Lancaster, officials said.
State prison officials acknowledged they did not provide county jailers with reports that Karcher allegedly had killed his former cellmate.
County mental health officials said they were prohibited by state and federal law from discussing their treatment of Karcher, but that diagnosing the mental health of any inmate is difficult because so many are dishonest during screening interviews
“Unfortunately, mental illness doesn’t have a blood test,” said Robert Fish, clinical manager for treatment at Twin Towers.
Karcher is now in a one-man cell and is awaiting trial on charges of killing two inmates.
Meanwhile, a county grand jury report released Friday recommended developing a program to better train mental health professionals who provide