State of Oregon Held in Contempt of 23-Year-Old Permanent Federal Injunction

Daily sanctions of $500 per person per day issued until people languishing in jail receive timely, court-ordered mental health restoration treatment

Portland, Ore.-Today, in a landmark ruling, the State of Oregon was held in contempt for its failure to comply with the 23-year-old permanent injunction in Oregon Advocacy Center v. Mink (OAC v. Mink). The Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon State Hospital, defendants in this case, have willfully disregarded Federal court legal mandates and the Constitutional right to due process by refusing to admit within seven (7) days people who lack the mental capacity to help defense attorneys during trial (also called "aid and assist"). Instead, aid-and-assist patients have been languishing in jail for up to 50 days-and at least two people have died while waiting for a bed at the Oregon State Hospital.

As the Honorable District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson pointed out in today's ruling, except for a few months, Oregon has been noncompliant with the Federal court since 2018, and the state has never proposed a reasonable plan to fix the problem.

"With little exception, defendants have been persistently out of compliance with the Court's Permanent Injunction since 2018. Defendants have consistently failed to admit persons declared unfit to proceed to OSH or another suitable treatment facility, as soon as practicable, but no more than seven days following the entry of a court order finding an individual unfit to proceed," wrote the Court.

Additionally, Oregon has not taken all steps recommended by Dr. Pinals, the Neutral Expert assigned to OAC v. Mink, to free up hospital beds in Salem for people in jail who need court-ordered behavioral health treatment. For example:

• In May 2025, 99 people waited on the Aid and Assist admission list. They waited an average of 15.1 days in jail for transport to the Oregon State Hospital after being found unable to aid and assist.

• Reducing the Ready to Place list has been a recommendation since Dr. Pinals' first report, published in January 2022.

• Yet there are 99 people under Aid and Assist currently at the Oregon State Hospital who no longer need that high level of care.

• Additionally, there are 36 people waiting an average of 223 days to be discharged under the Psychiatric Security Review Board (PSRB) who no longer need hospital level of care.

"Today's ruling is a major win for our clients whose Constitutional rights have been violated while they suffer in jail instead of receiving the court-ordered mental health restoration services they need. We're hopeful swift implementation of the monetary sanctions and remedial measures will kickstart real solutions to fix Oregon's broken mental health system."- Jake Cornett, Executive Director and CEO of Disability Rights Oregon

Today's Court Order includes:

• Contempt: Oregon was held in contempt of court by Honorable Judge Nelson for failing to comply with the Federal, permanent Mink injunction.

• Sanctions: The Court also ordered monetary sanctions in the amount of $500.00 per person, per day beyond the 7-day maximum a person can wait in jail. Sanctions will begin accruing on Saturday, June 7, 2025, and continue to accrue each calendar day unless and until defendants achieve substantial compliance with the Court's Permanent Injunction.

• Remedial Measures: The Court elevated the Neutral Expert to Court Monitor with a larger staff who will select an independent auditor to review how the State has spent funding dedicated to increasing the supply of behavioral health services in the community, what care-levels are missing, and where such care-levels are missing within Oregon. The Court also extended the previous remedial order and required status updates every 90-days. The Court further ordered the state to use all reasonable steps to impose limits on community restoration; facilitate and expedite discharge of patients no longer needing hospital level of care; reduce delays at every step of the GEI discharge review and release process; eliminate the backlog of forensic evaluations; and, all other recommendations included in Dr. Pinals's Eleventh Report.

Background

• March 2003: Disability Rights Oregon - under our former name, the Oregon Advocacy Center - won Oregon Advocacy Center v Mink, a landmark civil rights case that sought to end the practice of people who experience mental illness found unable to assist in their defense waiting months in jail to receive court-ordered mental health treatment. The Ninth Circuit upheld the court's decision that the state psychiatric hospital must accept defendants within seven days after an individual has been ordered for treatment to be able to face the charges against them.

• Spring-Summer 2019: Wait times in jail began climbing again - up to an average of 26 days - and we returned to court. The State of Oregon was compelled to get in compliance within 90 days, a federal court-imposed deadline which was met.

• 2020-21: When the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, the state asked the federal district court for wide latitude in admitting (or not admitting) patients found unable to aid and assist, citing the need to stem the spread of COVID-19.

  • The court granted the state's motion, and Disability Rights Oregon appealed.

  • Throughout the pandemic, the State Hospital continued to request pauses on admitting people found unable to aid and assist due to increasing patient numbers.

  • The Ninth Circuit issued another order, vacating the modification allowing this latitude and asked the district court judge to review his decision on the state hospital's admission policy.

• 2022-2023 - Mosman Orders

  • September 2022: To help reduce wait times for court-ordered treatment and support compliance with the initial 2003 Mink injunction, Honorable Judge Mosman issued the Mosman Order. This original mandate set timelines for releasing patients from the Oregon State Hospital as no longer than:

    • 90 days for patients charged with misdemeanors;

    • Six (6) months for felony charges; and,

    • Within one (1) year for charges of violent or person-centered, Measure 11 felony crimes.

  • July 2023: With the state still out of compliance, the court amended the original Mosman Order that permits district attorneys to request extended stays at the hospital for aid-and-assist patients charged with the most serious offenses. It also gives the state hospital greater flexibility in discharging certain patients.

• January 2025: Disability Rights Oregon filed motion for contempt against the State of Oregon.

Resources

• District Court Order (June 6, 2025)

• Eleventh Report of the Neutral Expert (May 5, 2025)

• Motion for Contempt Against State of Oregon(January 7, 2024)

• Tenth Report of the Neutral Expert (November 12, 2024)

• Ninth Report of the Neutral Expert (May 20, 2024)

• Eighth Report of the Neutral Expert (December 18, 2023)

• Seventh Report of the Neutral Expert (October 18, 2023)

• Sixth Report of the Neutral Expert (July 24, 2023)

• Mosman Order - amended (July 3, 2023)

• Fifth Report of the Neutral Expert (April 17, 2023)

• Fourth Report of the Neutral Expert (December 21, 2022)

• Third Report of the Neutral Expert (September 15, 2022)

• Mosman Order - original (September 1, 2022)

• Second Report of the Neutral Expert (June 5, 2022)

• First Report of the Neutral Expert (January 30, 2022)

• Joint Stipulation to Appointment of a Neutral Expert (December 17, 2021)

• Proposed Order Appointing State Expert (December 17, 2021)

• Interim Agreement (December 17, 2021)

• Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Decision (August 16, 2021)

• Response to the State's Motion to Pause Admissions (April 14, 2021)

• State's Response (December 3, 2020)

• Opening Brief Submitted to Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (September 21, 2020)

• District Court Order Modifying Injunction (May 13, 2020)

• Response to the State's Motion to Modify (April 20, 2020)

• State's Motion to Modify (April 17, 2020)

• Opinion of the United States District Court of Oregon (May 15, 2002)

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Disability Rights Oregon

Disability Rights Oregon upholds the civil rights of people with disabilities to live, work, and engage in the community. Serving as Oregon's Protection & Advocacy system since 1977, the nonprofit works to transform systems, policies, and practices to give more people the opportunity to reach their full potential.