Settlement Agreement Could Help Keep Mentally Ill Out of Washington Jails
A lawsuit between Disability Rights Washington and the Department of Social and Health Services in Washington settled yesterday. The suit revolved around a lawsuit filed by Disability Rights Washington back in 2014 on behalf of “mentally ill people who’ve been warehoused in jails for weeks or months while awaiting competency services.” When the lawsuit was first filed, it was seeking “relief for criminal defendants who were languishing for months in county jails while waiting to be evaluated to see if they were competent to help in their defense.” Those who were eventually found incompetent often had to wait additional “weeks or months before being taken to a state-run mental hospital for treatment.” As a result, the suit argued that the state “was violating their constitutional rights.”
