No more jails for the mentally ill?

When I was a kid, there were mental hospitals for the mentally ill. 

But the liberals said that it was awful to lock up the mentally ill. 

So those were shut down and the mentally ill were turned out on the streets, and the violently mentally ill were locked up in prison once they committed a crime. 

The state of Washington has agreed to a plan to resolve a lawsuit filed on behalf of mentally ill people who’ve been warehoused in jails for weeks or months while awaiting competency services.

A settlement reached Thursday between Disability Rights Washington and the Department of Social and Health Services is designed to bring the state into compliance with a judge’s 2015 ruling that said the state was violating the rights of its most vulnerable citizens. The plan also will end the contempt fines the state has been paying for years. So far, those fines have topped $60 million and average $3 million to $4 million each month.

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman must approve the settlement before it gets implemented.
 
“Every day that someone with a serious mental illness sits waiting for help in jail, they get sicker,” said Kimberly Mosolf, attorney for Disability Rights Washington. “This plan will keep people out of jail when mental health treatment and community supports are more appropriate, and it will get people with mental illness who are currently in jail into community settings where appropriate.”

DSHS Secretary Cheryl Strange said the settlement “lays out a comprehensive plan to reform the way we treat individuals with a mental illness who interact with our criminal justice system.

Right-Mind