Lawyers ask federal judge to declare state violates rights of mentally ill defendants

As seen in the Daily Reporter

SEATTLE — Lawyers for mentally ill defendants who are forced to wait in jail cells for months for competency evaluations and treatment have asked a federal judge to issue a ruling that says Washington's health services agency is violating the inmates' constitutional rights.

A federal lawsuit filed by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and Disability Rights Washington is scheduled to go to trial on March 16. But late Thursday, the lawyers filed a motion for summary judgment.

The motion argued that mentally ill defendants, many arrested on misdemeanor charges, are held in jails for up to 60 days awaiting competency evaluations. If found incompetent, they're held in jails again waiting to go to the hospital to have their competency restored so they can help with their defense. The motion said this is happening because the state's two psychiatric hospitals are overcrowded.

The lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman to rule that withholding services violates the defendants' due-process rights. Last week, Pechman granted the lawyers' request to certify the case as a class-action, which means it will apply to all mentally ill defendants in the state who are on the wait lists.

David Carlson, a lawyer with the disability rights group, said they sought the summary judgment to narrow the issues they'll deal with at the March trial.

"We are asking to court to look at the uncontested facts and apply the law," he said. "We believe that given that everyone agrees there are significant delays in people receiving evaluation and restoration services from the two state psychiatric hospitals, the court can rule on whether the law is being violated."

If the judge rules that the Department of Social and Health Services is violating the law by not providing the services, "the trial would focus on what remedies can be crafted to deliver timely evaluation and restoration services to the class members currently sitting in jails across the state," Carlson said.

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One document filed in the lawsuit details the hundreds of defendants impacted by the waitlists. It said that Eastern State Hospital reported on Oct. 24 that 60 people were in jails waiting for competency evaluations or treatment: 44 had waited for more than a week; 19 had waited form more than 35 days; and three waited for more than 56 days. Western State Hospital reported that 144 people were in jails waiting to get into the hospital.

More info at the linked story