SPOKANE, Wash. — The state is considering moving all criminally insane mental patients to Western State Hospital in the wake of an escape from Eastern State earlier this year, according to a report released today.
Eastern State may be unable to safely deal with the most dangerous patients in its forensic unit, and consolidating people found not guilty by reason of insanity at Western State could save money and should be studied, the report from the Washington State Psychiatric Hospital Safety Review Panel said.
“This approach would need to be weighed against the potential for an adverse impact on families,” the report said. “Local work force impacts would also need to be considered.”
The report, obtained by The Associated Press, was commissioned by Department of Social and Health Services Secretary Susan Dreyfus after the September escape of Phillip Paul during an outing to the Spokane County Interstate Fair. Paul was committed in 1987 for the slaying of a Sunnyside woman. He was recaptured without incident near Goldendale three days after escaping.
The department will immediately adopt new controls on how forensics patients — meaning those who enter mental hospitals as a result of being found innocent by reason of insanity in criminal trials — are selected for field trips off hospital grounds, Dreyfus said.
“Public safety should always be our top priority,” Dreyfus said. “These recommendations will help us ensure that.”
Under the new policies:
—Only forensic patients who have been cleared for conditional release by the courts can go on field trips.
—Law enforcement agencies will be notified in advance of field trips, along with notification of victims or victim families who have requested notification.
—Field trips will be limited to no more than four patients at a time. Paul was among 30 patients taken to the fair.
—Mental hospitals will maintain up-to-date photo files of all forensic patients, with descriptions of clothing worn on the field trip.
—Any escape from a field trip will be immediately reported to 911. Paul was gone for more than an hour before authorities were called.
The review panel found that Eastern State policies and procedures were out of date and poorly organized; that Eastern State staff were not documenting risk assessments as required by policy, and that the hospital in the Spokane suburb of Medical Lake generally did not pay sufficient attention to safety and security issues.
The panel recommended an immediate review and update of Eastern State policies and procedures.
Eastern was ordered to stop mingling civil and forensic patients.
The panel did not endorse legislative action to create a “guilty but mentally ill” verdict, but it did review and endorse creation of a Psychiatric Security Review Board like one that exists in Oregon. That board acts as a second layer of authority for decisions involving all forensic patients.
Security experts from the Department of Corrections are still visiting both Eastern and Western state hospital campuses to review security.
The panel did not study or recommend staff discipline at Eastern State Hospital, where the chief executive officer has resigned. Dreyfus said the Washington State Patrol has been assigned to review staff roles during the escape.
Following the escape, all field trips were suspended at both hospitals. Dreyfus said field trips will be “carefully reinstated.”
The report: www.dshs.wa.gov/pdf/EA/121509SafetyReview.pdf
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