Skip to main content
Lawyers on behalf of three people have filed charges of contempt in Washington County against Oregon State Hospital, accusing the state of violating a two-decade-old federal judge’s order that mentally ill people in jail be transferred to a hospital within seven days.
As WW reported last week, Washington County Presiding Judge Rebecca Guptill said July 11 she would levy fines against the hospital and the state agency that runs it, the Oregon Health Authority, in two of those cases.
Related: Judges Hold State in Contempt for Unconstitutionally Jailing the Mentally Ill
The following day, lawyers filed contempt charges on behalf of a third person, Elsa Sacayon-De Leon of Hillsboro.
Her case is particularly concerning: Sacayon-De Leon, 22, was arrested in Washington County on charges she assaulted a close friend. Details of what happened were redacted, but court records indicate she immigrated from Guatemala and was living in her mother’s car at the time. A judge believed she was mentally ill and ordered her sent to Oregon State Hospital on July 1.
But the hospital is full, and has been accepting new admissions on a first-come, first-served basis. In the meantime, her attorney says, Sacayon-De Leon’s condition has worsened.
“Petitioner received no court ordered mental health treatment and [she] has decompensated as a result of [the state’s] continued disobedience of the court’s orders,” Ryan Lhotsky wrote. As of July 17, Sacayon-De Leon remains in Washington County Jail.