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| Inmates On Hold at Oregon Hospital |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 12/10/2001 |
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Overcrowding at Oregon State Hospital is causing mentally ill patients to wait almost five times longer than the law allows to receive court-ordered treatment. Mentally ill people facing minor charges sometimes wait longer in jail for a state hospital bed than they would serve in prison if convicted. 'The situation at the state hospital has reached a crisis level,' said Multnomah County Chief Criminal Judge Julie Frantz. The wait for a bed in the state hospital's forensics unit is now about 34 days, and one Multnomah County inmate recently waited 111 days. State law says it shouldn't take longer than seven. The wait is almost four months to be seen at the state hospital to determine whether a defendant is able to aid in his or her defense, according to state-hospital records. Recently, the hospital's forensics unit was more than 20 patients over capacity, despite adding 35 beds last month. Plans to add a ward to the 400-bed unit in January 2003 may be scrapped because of budget cuts. 'The problem is not our willingness to get help for these people,' said Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Noelle. 'It's not the state hospital being jerks. It's the state's inability to properly fund the state hospital to make the space available to take these people.' |
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