Judge says Washington's mental-health jail waits have gotten worse, not better
In a sharply worded order, Judge Pechman found that conditions for jailed defendants awaiting competency services had deteriorated rather than improved since her 2015 ruling, despite the state having already paid $9.6 million in accumulated contempt fines. She ordered immediate changes to staffing and scheduling at the state's forensic hospitals.
The order underscored a pattern that would recur throughout the case: financial penalties alone were not enough to force operational change, and the court increasingly turned to specific, mandated fixes rather than fines alone.
Source: Federal judge scolds state for treatment of mentally ill — The Seattle Times, by Martha Bellisle, The Associated Press
← Back to the map