On April 23, 2018, Disability Rights Washington—the state protection and advocacy organization—filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. The plaintiff sued Governor Jay Inslee, the Secretary of the Department of Corrections, and the Superintendent of the State Penitentiary under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act on behalf of its constituents who are inmates with mental illness held in overly restrictive conditions due to their disability. The plaintiff, represented by Disability Rights Washington and private counsel sought declaratory and injunctive relief and attorneys fees. The plaintiff claimed that defendants’ policy and practice of housing all inmates in need of mental health services in a more restrictive close custody setting irrespective of their actual custody classifications denies them the benefit of DOC’s services, program, and activities. Additionally, the plaintiffs claim that this practice subjects them to discrimination on the basis of their disability.
The case was assigned to Judge Rosanna M. Peterson. The defendants filed their answer on May 21, 2018 and the parties then entered discovery. On February 13, 2019, the court granted the parties joint motion to stay proceedings to finalize a possible settlement, which was contingent on legislative funding. The Department of Corrections received approximately $5 million in requested funding from the Washington Legislature conditioned on the money being used to resolve this litigation.
On June 27, 2019, the parties jointly stipulated and moved to dismiss all claims against Governor Inslee. The same day, the parties jointly moved for approval of their Final Settlement Agreement.
The proposed settlement agreement required the defendants to review the custody score, assigned custody, and housing assignment for each person in the Residential Treatment Center at the Baker, Adams, and Rainer (Bar) Units at the Washington State Penitentiary. For those inmates whose behavioral or mental health needs dictate a higher custodial setting than their custody score under other DOC policy, they will be reviewed individually. If a more restrictive setting is required, reducing behaviors or symptoms associated with the more restrictive placement would be included as a treatment goal along with specific, objective, and individualized benchmarks in the treatment plan. The settlement also called for one designated medium security BAR unit with at least two mods designated as residential treatment units, and for physical retrofits to the new unit. The defendants would ensure that people housed in the new medium security mods have comparable out-of-cell time, program, and activities as are provided to people housed in other units.
The proposed agreement called for defendants to develop a work plan, ideally within two months of execution of the agreement, including interim benchmarks, and for the parties to meet quarterly to discuss defendants’ progress. The plaintiff is entitled to reasonable monitoring and will visit the new unit twice per year.
The parties intended to work in good faith to achieve substantial compliance within two years of court approval, but also requested that the court incorporate the agreement into an order and retain jurisdiction to enforce the substantive terms of the agreement for 30 months following approval.
The defendants agreed to pay plaintiff $185,000 in attorneys’ fees and $25,000 annually as compensation for monitoring while the agreement remains in effect.
On July 1, 2019 Judge Peterson granted the stipulated motion for approval of the settlement and terminated Governor Inslee as a defendant with prejudice. The court will retain jurisdiction for 30 months and then dismiss the case with prejudice absent an extension.
Claire Shimberg - 05/07/2020
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