KING COUNTY, Wash. — On Tuesday, King County Superior Court Judge Johanna Bender heard oral arguments on King County’s legal action against the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) for unconstitutionally leaving mentally ill defendants in the county jail.
More than 100 people deemed incompetent to stand trial are waiting behind bars at the King County Jail for a bed at Western State Hospital in Lakewood. In all cases, a judge has ordered them to receive mental health treatment aimed at regaining competency to participate in their defense. But none of those waiting has received treatment yet.
DSHS doesn’t have room. Beds are full at both Western State Hospital and Eastern State Hospital outside of Spokane. Judges have repeatedly found the state agency in contempt of court orders for treatment delays.
A KING 5 Investigation revealed that approximately 870 defendants across the state are waiting for court-ordered mental health treatment at state psychiatric facilities.
“The county is directly harmed by DSHS’s refusal to follow this court’s ruling and that is the very essence of contempt,” said Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Andrea Vitalich, who represented the King County Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention in the proceeding.
Vitalich argued that Judge Bender should pave the way for DSHS to have to pay sanctions of $219 per day, per defendant left waiting in the King County Jail beyond legally set timeframes.
The county said they hoped sanctions would motivate DSHS to act more quickly.
"So that the county is no longer forced to care for and house (mentally ill defendants) in our jail, which quite frankly is where at this time they do not belong," said Vitalich.
The assistant attorney general representing DSHS, Andrew Logerwell, argued there is no legal precedent for the county to intervene in these cases and that sanctions wouldn’t speed up the process of admitting inmates to the hospital.
Officials at DSHS said they have been hit with a “perfect storm” of events that have caused so many people to be left waiting in jails:
- COVID caused pauses in admissions to state hospitals, which created a backlog of cases in the county court systems.
- At Western State Hospital, 21% of positions are unfilled, despite the state’s attempts at creating incentives for work opportunities.
- State officials said they were blindsided by a massive increase in court directives for services. Between 2021 and 2022 state records show the need went up by approximately 40%.
“We don’t have enough beds even though we’ve added over 150 beds since 2015. We’ve created residential treatment facilities, (and we’ve) expanded at Eastern and Western State Hospitals,” said Dr. Thomas Kinlen, director of the DSHS Office of Forensic Mental Health Services. “Unfortunately, the demand for competency restoration services continues to grow and grow and grow.”
Judge Bender said she will issue a written decision in the coming days on whether the county will obtain the legal standing they seek in order to ask the court to impose sanctions against DSHS.
In a statement last month, King County Executive Dow Constantine said it’s time for the county to hold DSHS to account.
“We need the state to meet its responsibility because across Washington there are hundreds of individuals in limbo. Each day we wait for the state to meet its obligation is another day behavioral health needs go unmet. That must change. It’s my hope that this action will help move the state to meet its legal obligations,” Constantine said.