A man with a history of severe mental illness suspected of setting fire to two mosques in Minneapolis is being detained with inadequate medical treatment, his lawyer argued in a court filing.
A federal grand jury indicted Jackie Rahm Little on hate crime and arson charges for allegedly setting the Masjid Omar Islamic Center on fire on April 23, 2023. Little, 37, of Plymouth, is also suspected of setting another arson at Masjid Al Rahma the following day.
In November, Magistrate Judge Douglas Micco ordered Little to undergo up to 120 days of treatment at the Federal Prison Medical Center to determine whether he can eventually “acquire competency” to stand trial.
In a recent filing, defense attorney Aaron Morrison wrote that Little is in isolation at the Sherburne County Jail in pretrial detention and “receiving very limited mental health treatment.”
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government was in breach of the Insanity Defense Reform Act because Little had not been transferred to a Bureau of Prisons treatment facility more than four months after Mikko's order. he claimed.
In his submission, Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for the charges to be dismissed, calling it an “inhumane and unacceptable” delay.
In response, Assistant U.S. Attorney Evan Gilead said that due to a national shortage of bed space and care providers, the federal prison system's medical centers that provide competency-recovery treatment are waiting for a bed to become available. I am writing that there is a waiting time.
Gilead's Monday filing said Little will be admitted to the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, beginning in June.
Gilead cited previous rulings from federal district courts and courts of appeals, saying the four-month deadline applies to the hospital stay itself, and the time Little spent in prison waiting for a space to become available. claims that it does not apply.
NPR reported in September 2023 that the Butner facility, where the Bureau of Prisons also sends inmates who need other types of medical care, has an alarming track record of understaffing and delays in care.
According to Minnesota court records, Little had struggled with mental illness in recent years. A Hennepin County judge convicted him civilly in 2021 after he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder with psychotic features.
Little has been in and out of prisons, group homes and hospitals since late 2020. Four days after Little allegedly set the first of two mosque fires, he was released by a housing assistance program citing “behavioral issues.”
In January, Hennepin County Mental Health Division Judge George Boler ruled Little's condition precluded prosecution on a 2021 vehicle arson charge.
