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Editorial: State should address needs of offenders with mental illness, disabilities

Tue., Nov. 3, 2015

Spokane residents who still shake at the mention of Kevin Coe will be relieved to know a pending lawsuit alleging lack of treatment for sexual offenders housed on McNeil Island will not have the South Hill Rapist on a ferry back to the mainland.

Disability Rights Washington has drafted litigation akin to previous suits filed against the state claiming lack of appropriate treatment for patients at Eastern and Western Washington state hospitals.

The lawsuits forced the state to increase spending on mental evaluations for defendants and improving conditions for, and control of, violent patients.

The reforms were overdue.

Some of those same deficiencies apply to conditions on McNeil Island, but the population there does not elicit the kind of compassion due hospital patients. McNeil residents are sexual predators, Coe being among the most notorious.

Although convicted of only one rape, he was linked to more than 30, and the violent spree traumatized the community for two years. Coe has never admitted to the crimes, never expressed remorse, nor accepted treatment to address his demons.

After serving a 25-year sentence, he was committed to McNeil, where he has remained.

Disability Rights Washington would not free Coe and his like from McNeil. Instead, as with its prior litigation, the group is seeking relief for only about 50 of the Special Commitment Center’s 252 residents.

That subset of the facility’s population has mental disabilities or brain injuries so severe they cannot participate in conventional treatment programs. Some are locked in units where most communication with prison staff is via intercom.

But an exclusive focus on security violates the premise of their detention, says Disability Rights Director of Litigation David Carlson. If the residents are not receiving treatment, they should not be imprisoned.

The advocacy group is prepared to sue but has held off while negotiating remedies with the Department of Social and Health Services, which will seek a $4.1 million supplemental appropriation from the Legislature to handle the projected costs of adding and training staff.

McNeil, for example, currently is without a psychiatrist, an almost inconceivable gap but one all too common as the state and nation face up to the prevalence of mental health problems and the shortage of trained people at almost every level to deal with them.

Carlson says a psychiatrist is one of the requirements on a list his group and DSHS must come to agreement on by the end of the week, or litigation will begin.

Although cynicism about how effective therapy can be for some sexual offenders is understandable, the state clearly has an obligation to make help available, even if some McNeil residents refuse to participate. The lawsuit, if filed, will address only the needs of those too disabled to benefit from conventional treatment.

That should be a need the state can recognize and address.