Advocacy groups asked a federal judge to hold Oregon’s state health agency and psychiatric hospital accountable for not meeting the needs of criminal defendants who require mental health treatment, Courthouse News reports. “Doing nothing is not an option,” Jesse Merrithew, attorney for Metropolitan Public Defenders, told U.S. District Judge Adrienne Nelson Wednesday morning. Those deemed unable to proceed to trial often languish in jail for days on end awaiting treatment at the state’s psychiatric hospital, Merrithew told the judge. The hearing is the latest in ongoing litigation dating back to 2002 when Metropolitan Public Defenders and Disability Rights Oregon sued state health officials over accusations of civil rights violations of mentally ill people.
A 2002 federal court order determined that jailing a mentally incompetent person for over seven days is unconstitutional. Despite the order, as of the end of February, around 68 people who need mental health treatment sit in jails throughout the state and wait an average of 13.6 days before being admitted to the Oregon State Hospital. The state maintained compliance with the seven-day rule from 2002 until 2018, when admission times began to stretch longer. “Good faith is not a defense,” Hanah Morin, an attorney with Disability Rights Oregon, told the court. “Partial compliance is not a defense.” Though the state has begun to expand community placements and look for ways to reduce the strain on the psychiatric hospital intake, those steps should have been taken 10 years ago, she said.
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