Credit: Troy Brynelson / Oregon Public Broadcasting
Stuck in jail, waiting for a psychiatric bed. COVID-19 made an old problem worse By
While Washingtonâs system has been strained for years, state officials and disability rights advocates say it effectively ground to a halt during the pandemic.
Bill Ward didnât want to get out of bed. About the only reason he found to lift himself up was to go to his computer and check the online roster of a county jail more than 600 miles away.
The 78-year-oldâs grandson had been sitting in the same Clark County Jail cell for more than three months. The long wait left Ward perplexed.