Newly retired Grays Harbor County Sheriff Rick Scott, who is also the past-president of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, said jails across the state are under extreme pressure with a record number of mentally ill inmates stuck in their facilities without treatment. The crisis stems from state-run psychiatric facilities that aren’t admitting people waiting for services in jails in a timely manner as outlined by state law and court orders. “We’ve literally hit rock bottom,” Scott said. “There isn’t a jail in the state of Washington from King County to Asotin County - the smallest - that was set up or designed to be a psychiatric facility. Now every jail in the state of Washington has become an ad-hoc psychiatric facility.” At the Grays Harbor County Jail, located in Montesano on the Olympic Peninsula, approximately 20-30% of the jail population is made up of inmates who are supposed to be receiving care from the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). The state agency is legally responsible for providing what’s called competency restoration services in a hospital setting when a judge finds a defendant is so mentally ill they cannot understand the charges against them. READ THE FULL STORY HERE: https://www.king5.com/article/news/investigations/washington-jails-overwhelmed-mentally-ill-inmates-sheriff-says/281-4a7fc841-fef4-417a-b060-aa1b781b2f94