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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Do you have a news tip? newstips@heraldnet.com | 425.339.3400   Published: Friday, October 10, 2008 Task force reports shortcomings in state's mental health system Associated Press SEATTLE -- Washington's system for dealing with the potentially violent mentally ill needs fixing and helped create conditions that led to the killing of a Seattle woman last New Year's Eve, a task force has concluded. James Williams, a repeat violent offender with severe schizophrenia, has been charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Shannon Harps outside her Capitol Hill apartment house. At the time, prosecutors said, Williams wasn't complying with court-ordered treatment and had been off the medications that helped control his violent hallucinations. King County prosecutor Dan Satterberg, who convened the task force to examine the case, said community corrections officers supervising Williams did all they could to try to keep him in treatment and out of trouble. "The bottom line -- they ran out of tools, Mr. Williams was let out and 10 days later he was charged in Harps' death," Satterberg told a Seattle newspaper. The task force included more than two dozen psychiatrists, corrections officers, police officers, mental health counselors, government executives, criminal defense attorneys, prosecutors and legislators. Members, who met for the final time Tuesday, made 57 recommendations to Satterberg, who is expected to release a report next month. The newspaper reported Thursday that among the biggest issues being considered would be changing the state's involuntary commitment laws to require treatment for people with a significant history of violence. The normal commitment process has stringent standards to preserve a patient's civil rights. The task force also studied the shooting rampage in Skagit County last month that left six people dead. While the man charged in the case, Isaac Zamora, wasn't flagged as high-risk by the state corrections system and questions remain about the case, "What we do know is it is possible many times for offenders to be totally off our radar," said Cheryl Strange, deputy secretary of the state Department of Corrections and a task force member. Washington has a critical lack of psychiatric hospital beds in the state, the task force found, which has led to severely mentally ill people being detained in hospital emergency rooms. "The consensus is people with a violent criminal history don't belong in the ER," Satterberg said. Washington ranks last in the country in the number of community psychiatric beds for either voluntary or involuntary commitments, said Amnon Shoenfeld, director of mental health for King County. According to American Hospital Association data, Washington has 600 beds, 900 short of the national average. Last month, the state closed 30 beds at Western State Hospital and expects to close 90 more next year, said Richard Kellogg, director of mental health for the state Department of Social and Health Services. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

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