Settlement in works over treatment of jailed mentally ill
SEATTLE – Three years after a federal judge said Washington state is violating the constitutional rights of mentally ill people who must wait in jails for weeks for competency services, and two years after the judge held the state in contempt for failing to fix the problem, a settlement is in the works.
The settlement between Disability Rights Washington and the Department of Social and Health Services would require the agency to admit that it has failed to resolve the yearslong problem, according to a summary of the agreement’s key points acquired by the Associated Press.
“Defendants acknowledge and accept that there has been a systemic failure, of which DSHS plays but a part,” the tentative agreement says. “Any solution will require systemic ownership of the failure to fix the problem. Solutions must be creative and may need to challenge the status quo.”
The contempt-of-court fines the state has been ordered to pay over the past two years for forcing people to wait extended periods for services reached $59.45 million this month. The state is also on the hook for $2.34 million in attorney’s fees, according to Kathryn Leathers, a lawyer for Gov. Jay Inslee.
Read more: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2018/jun/04/settlement-in-works-over-treatment-of-jailed-menta/
