State must pay fines for delay in Oregon State Hospital admissions during appeal of contempt ruling

The state of Oregon must pay all fines owed while it appeals a finding that it acted in contempt of a court order requiring timely admissions of criminal defendants to the state psychiatric hospital, a judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Adrienne Nelson denied a motion from the state to delay payment of the fines while it appeals her June 6 contempt finding to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Nelson ruled that the state had not taken “all reasonable steps” to admit jailed criminal defendants for treatment at the Oregon State Hospital within seven days of a court finding that mental illness prevents them from participating in their cases. She described the state’s crisis as largely the result of its “lack of foresight.”

Nelson also ordered the state to pay $500 a da