Eastern State’s Plan Like Mixing Oil And Water

Something loony is about to happen at the local asylum, but don’t blame the inmates.

Blame pencil-pushing bureaucrats at Eastern State Hospital who have come up with a daffy way to save a few bucks.

The plan being considered is to merge a third floor ward with a ward on the first floor sometime in March.

Sounds safe and sane, right?

Not according to Eastern State workers. The merger, they say, will mix potentially dangerous criminals with others who are criminally insane, but stabilized on medication.

Employees warn that combining these two groups could lead to fights, assaults on staff, rapes, theft and even escapes.

“It’s completely crazy, and we know crazy,” says one worker who may give up her career at the Medical Lake institution should this merger come about.

All the employees I spoke with asked not to be identified. They claim their vindictive bosses would fire them in a heartbeat.

It’s important to note that those fighting the merger don’t get paid to mop halls or push food carts. They include some of the institution’s most respected mental health professionals, highly trained individuals who know their patients’ capabilities and behavior.

They are scared to death and here’s why:

The third-floor ward in question is highly restricted and secure for good reasons. People accused of various crimes are sent there for mental evaluations before trial.

Most are not insane. Most go back to jail within the 15-day limit. Some feign mental problems, hoping to prolong their journey through the legal system. Some are looking for an opportunity to escape.

Many are drug abusers. A few are violent predators. All of them need to be continually watched.

True, the hospital could save upwards of $18,000 a month by moving this aggressive, unpredictable bunch in with long-term patients on the first floor.

But at what cost?

The first-floor ward is much more relaxed. The patients have all been found not guilty of crimes because of insanity, but their treatment allows them basic privileges (radios, Walkmans, etc.) the third floor group can’t have.

“It’s like mixing oil and water,” says another Eastern State professional. “No matter how safe they try to make this new mega-ward, it will still be a very, very unsafe place.”

The merger also is opposed by the Spokane Alliance for the Mentally Ill, which sees this as an abuse of patient rights. The group has planned a March 11 meeting to formally protest what’s going on.

Steven Covington, Eastern State’s administrator, defends the plan, saying every safety precaution will be taken.

He pooh-poohs employee concerns, suggesting they are reacting hysterically to change. Staff size, he says, won’t be cut. Try as he might, he can’t remember any horrible incidents occurring in the third-floor ward.

Maybe that’s because Covington has been at Eastern State only since August. If he asked around, he’d probably hear about the nurse who was briefly held hostage in 1993 by murderer Charles Bolton.

Bolton, who raped and tossed a 75-year-old woman off a Spokane bridge, was sent to Eastern State for an evaluation. While he was there, he grabbed a nurse and stuck a pointed pencil into her throat. “She screamed for help and we managed to get him away from her,” says another employee.

Third-floor workers are on constant guard, never knowing when the next Charles Bolton will pop his cork.

Even some Eastern State patients are smart enough to see Covington’s plan for the misguided disaster it is.

“There are a lot of us who are worried about this,” says a first-floor inmate who called me. “And I’m one of them.”