State officials say delays in gathering background information on prisoners such as accused murderer Claude Shafer Jr. are a likely cause for the slow pace in fulfilling orders to transfer them to hospitals for treatment of mental disorders. Shafer, 37, has remained in the Rappahannock-Shenandoah-Warren Regional Jail for more than a month since Shenandoah County Circuit Judge Dennis L. Hupp granted a motion by defense attorneys seeking the defendant's transfer to Central State Hospital in Petersburg.