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Editorial: Legislature deserves court’s reproof after mental health cuts

Sun., April 5, 2015

Because of shameful neglect, the state of Washington has once again been placed under court supervision to ensure it meets a constitutional obligation.

With schools, it was a violation of the state constitution for not sufficiently funding basic education. The latest ruling cites violations of federal due process rights because the state failed to perform timely post-arrest mental health competency evaluations. Instead, defendants in need of services were warehoused in jails for weeks and months, often in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, which only exacerbated their conditions.

Under state law, the Department of Social and Health Services has seven days to evaluate defendants to see whether they’re mentally able to participate in their defense. It was a deadline rarely met. The average wait time for competency evaluations at Eastern State Hospital was 50 days in the third quarter of 2014, according to a state study.

On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman issued a permanent injunction and gave the state nine months to fix the problem. She said she will appoint a monitor to make sure the state follows through. In her ruling, she was unsparing in her criticism:

“Jails are not hospitals, they are not designed as therapeutic environments, and they are not equipped to manage mental illness or keep those with mental illness from being victimized by the general population of inmates.”

The judge highlighted many egregious examples, including a Spokane County case involving a defendant who was arrested July 29 and not evaluated until Sept. 10. The defendant spent 35 days in solitary confinement or on suicide watch after repeatedly stating a desire to die. The defendant was ultimately ruled not competent to stand trial.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Sam Cozza has found Eastern State Hospital in contempt many times for failing to conduct timely evaluations.

The Legislature slashed $90 million from the mental health system from 2009 to 2013 as it struggled to balance budgets during the recession. The cuts led to a state Supreme Court ruling that banned the warehousing of mental health patients at hospitals, where they do not receive proper treatment. Cutbacks also were behind the problems at Lakeland Village in Medical Lake, where staff reductions led to patient-care violations.

The House and Senate added about $100 million and $90 million, respectively, to their budgets for psychiatric treatments and hospital beds, competency evaluations and improvements at Eastern and Western state hospitals. Now, legislative leaders must determine whether that will be enough to satisfy the state Supreme Court and a U.S. District Court.

The lesson in this mess is that lawmakers cannot balance budgets while flouting constitutional rights. It’s unconscionable that so many vulnerable people were victimized by a heedless Legislature.