Judge questions state’s efforts on competency services case

SEATTLE – A federal judge on Monday questioned Washington state’s efforts to comply with her order requiring it to provide timely competency services to mentally ill defendants who have been forced to wait in jails for weeks or months.

“The bottom line is since last April I don’t see any change in the criteria you’re applying” when deciding who should receive competency evaluations, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman told Dr. Randall Strandquist, director of psychology at Eastern State Hospital, one of the state’s two forensic facilities.

Although Strandquist said he was optimistic about his hospital’s efforts to dramatically cut down on the amount of time the defendants must wait to receive competency evaluations, Pechman said people have died while waiting for services and the state’s efforts are questionable.

“I let you run for nine months and hoped you would come up with a plan,” Pechman told the agency representatives who attended the hearing. “To say I’m disappointed would be an understatement.”

At the end of the daylong hearing, Pechman struggled to come up with an appropriate order that would ensure that the state provides timely competency services. She said she could hold the state in contempt and issue a fine, or order the agency to follow a new timeline with strict rules and more aggressive oversight.

Pechman said she would issue a written ruling in about 10 days.

Under current state law, when a judge orders a competency evaluation for a defendant, the state has 14 days to complete the process. If the person is found incompetent to stand trial, the state has 14 days to provide treatment to restore competency. But a lack of bed space and staff has caused these defendants to wait weeks or months for the services.

Disability Rights Washington filed a lawsuit against the state in 2014 saying that forcing mentally ill people to wait in jails for extended periods violates their constitutional rights.

Pechman agreed, and in April 2015 ordered the state to provide competency services within seven days of a judge’s order. She gave the state until Jan. 2 to comply with the injunction.

But the Washington Department of Social and Health Services hasn’t been able to secure enough beds at its psychiatric hospitals to provide timely services and on Dec. 30 filed a motion asking for an extension.

Carla Reyes, assistant secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services’ behavioral health division, told the judge an inability to hire enough staff has hurt efforts to comply with the January deadline. The efforts were further thwarted when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services threatened to cut federal funding over safety concerns at Western State Hospital.

The state is working to fix the problems to satisfy the federal authorities and hopes to be able to comply with the judge’s order by May 27, Reyes said.