The failure of Oregon’s 2020 legislative session has left many who have mental illnesses and are cycling through the criminal justice system in the familiar position of having to wait, at least a little longer, to get the help they need.
A $20 million funding request that would have increased capacity for people transitioning out of the Oregon State Hospital died as a result of the Republican led walkout in Salem. The walkout that denied lawmakers the quorum necessary to pass bills, resulting in the least productive session in modern Oregon history.
A bill that would have made it easier to get some lower level criminal defendants into the state hospital also died.
“Everyone had been hoping that we would be able to make some progress,” said Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Nan Waller, who has worked closely on addressing the state’s mental health crisis. “The hydraulics of the entire system were both waiting for some additional funding and some tweaks so that we are sure that we are making good decisions for individuals.”
The number of criminal defendants sent to the Oregon State Hospital because they can’t aid in their own defense has increased dramatically in recent years. In January, it hit a record 305 people, according to the Oregon Health Authority. They’re known as aid and assist patients.
“For people admitted to [the Oregon State Hospital], hospitalization is often needed initially to help them stabilize, but the supports and continuity of care to maintain their stabilization are not consistently available,” OHA director Pat Allen wrote state lawmakers in a January funding request. “At the local level, law enforcement, jails and emergency departments are consistently reporting stresses on their systems as well as frustration with the lack of effective options.”
In 2019, the state hospital was sued because it fell out of compliance with a long-standing federal court order that required inmates who are unable to aid in their own defense because of a mental illness be transferred to the hospital within seven days.
Capacity issues at the hospital made it difficult to admit people, so instead they languished in local jails where their conditions worsened.
The same year, Oregon lawmakers passed a change that was meant to reduce the number of people waiting to get into the state hospital.
And while the legislation did help free up beds at the hospital, it also created some unintended consequences. Criminal defendants facing misdemeanor charges soon found it more difficult to get any assistance for mental health conditions.
“The funnel to the State Hospital has narrowed and yet because the volume of people sucked into the criminal justice system is so much higher, the number of patients on aid and assist orders at the State Hospital is actually at an all-time high,” said Sarah Radcliffe, Managing Attorney for Disability Rights Oregon.
“We’re back to square one and meanwhile more and more people are getting ensnared in this Merry-Go-Round of homelessness, institution and jail.”
Going into the 2020 legislative session, the Oregon State Hospital asked lawmakers for $20 million that would’ve opened 50 beds at its Junction City campus, as well as another 16 community beds.
“That would be enormous to have secure residential treatment beds in the community, it would be an enormous step forward,” Waller said.
The bill that languished in the 2020 legislative session, Senate Bill 1575, would’ve done away with the requirement for a misdemeanor defendant to be found “dangerous” by a mental or behavioral health provider before they can gain access to the state hospital. Under the bill, a clinician would still need to find a defendant acutely mentally ill, but the bill replaced dangerousness with “public safety concerns,” potentially removing a barrier for some misdemeanor defendants who need treatment at the state hospital.
The bill also required judges to make a decision about a defendant within seven days of determining someone unable to aid in their own defense.
“Senate Bill 1575 clarified that allowing the defendant to just wait indefinitely in jail and check in every seven days to see whether some community resource materialized was not a permissible option,” Radcliffe said.
She said most community treatment programs aren’t robust enough to meet the needs of people who would otherwise be helped at the state hospital.
“There really is no alternative path,” Radcliffe said. “The ironic outcome is if you have a defendant who has a low level charge and is not dangerous, they might end up languishing in jail for who knows how many weeks because they don’t need the state hospital and there’s nothing available in the community.”
Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, supported the legislation. He said it’s one of 50 or 100 bills that should’ve passed this year, but didn’t. Speaking before the coronavirus led to widespread shutdowns across the state, Prozanski told OPB there could be several special sessions starting later this spring.
“I think it should be addressed and needs to be addressed before the 2021 session,” Prozanski said.
Copyright 2020 Oregon Public Broadcasting