There are four men in the Clallam County jail waiting for a bed at Western State Hospital, the state’s mental health facility serving the west side of Washington.
They will likely keep on waiting.
Currently, there is about a two-month waiting list at the Steilacoom hospital charged with evaluating the mental competency of criminal defendants.
The logjam contributes to overcrowding, say jail administrators, and prosecutors and defense attorneys say the delays frustrate their efforts to help deliver speedy justice.
But the larger issue, they say, is where mentally ill defendants should be incarcerated: A county jail or a place where they can be treated?
“Jails are being considered warehouses for the mentally ill, and that’s not right,” said Clallam County Sheriff Joe Martin, who oversees the jail administrator.
The four men, all awaiting either evaluation by mental health experts at the hospital or treatment, represent only a drop in the bucket in the 100-bed Clallam County jail that has housed up to dozens more inmates at a time.
But mentally ill inmates and those suspected of having mental health problems require more attention from jail officers and medical staff, said Margaret Farmer, chief corrections deputy.
Isolating them alone in cells contributes to overcrowding, she said.
“If they exhibit mental problems, it’s harder for them to live in confined spaces with others that are not of their choosing,” Farmer said, who noted that the four men awaiting beds at Western State are not the only inmates who may be mentally ill.
Calls to Jefferson County Jail Superintendent Steve Richmond and Undersheriff Tim Perry to determine how the waiting list is affecting the jail there were not immediately returned.
Currently, the average wait for a bed in the 241-bed forensics unit at Western State is 52 days, said Chris Flowers, a spokeswoman for the hospital.
A typical mental health evaluation takes about two weeks, she said.
