State Now Needs To Find Way To Deal With Mentally Ill

SEATTLE (AP) — A federal judge has issued a permanent injunction against the state of Washington for violating the constitutional rights of mentally ill people who wait long periods in jail for treatment, saying they can't be held in custody for more than seven days without an evaluation.

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman said since the state has disregarded court orders, she'll appoint a monitor to make sure the state fixes the problem.

During a two-week trial, the attorney general's office argued the state could address the long waitlists for competency evaluations and treatment. But Pechman said officials failed to fix it even though they've known about it for a long time.

Lawyers for the mentally ill defendants praised the judge's ruling, saying she made it clear the state cannot deny basic human rights to mentally ill people in custody.