Oregon
Oregon State Hospital still in contempt of court 1 year later
What to know about Oregon State Hospital in Salem, Oregon
The Oregon State Hospital treats three types of patients who need hospital-level care in Salem and Junction City.
The Oregon State Hospital remains in contempt of court as defendants continue to sit in jail past the seven-day deadline for them to be admitted and has racked up nearly $4.5 million in fines since a federal court order in June 2025.
A new order is expected to bring the state back into compliance by the end of 2026.
For Emily Cooper, the legal director for Disability Rights Oregon, the organization that sued the state more than two decades ago, every additional day of waiting means another day a person with mental illness “could be irreparably harmed.”
At least two people have died waiting to receive treatment for mental health issues a judge has deemed severe enough to prevent them from aiding and assisting in their own legal defense.
Since 2002, the state psychiatric hospital has been ordered to admit people who have been found unable to aid in their own legal defense for competency restoration within seven days.
The state has been out of compliance with that requirement for most of the last eight or so years.
Oregon has been fined nearly $4.5 million for late admissions
Disability Rights Oregon asked U.S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson to hold the Oregon Health Authority, which oversees the state hospital, in contempt of court for failing to meet that standard in January 2025.
On June 6, 2025, Nelson did just that, finding Oregon in contempt and ordering fines of $500 per-person for every day an aid and assist patient was waiting longer than a week to be admitted to OSH.
From June 7, 2025, to May 14, 2026, defendants cumulatively waited more than 9,000 days in jail beyond the seven day allowance, averaging about eight additional days each.
OSH reports four weeks of data on the first of each month.
The nearly $4.5 million the state has been fined will be spent in some way on helping people struggling with mental illness, Cooper said.
Those fines are paid from the budgets for the hospital and OHA’s behavioral health division.
The fines have lowered in recent months after spiking in the winter but continue to add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the total bill.
Oregon is expected to be back in compliance this year
Aid and assist patients are admitted to OSH for short stays – 90 days, six months, or a year – depending on the charges. The purpose is to stabilize someone enough that they can, on a basic level, understand what they are being charged with and help their attorney.
Nelson eliminated most extensions to those stays on June 1 by granting a remedial order. People who have committed Measure 11 felonies, serious violent crimes, are now the only aid and assist patients eligible for an extension on their stay at OSH.
The elimination of most extensions, along with limiting what charges can make defendants eligible to be sent to OSH, are designed to open beds for new patients more quickly.
After reviewing data on the prior extensions, Dr. Debra Pinals, who has served as a neutral expert and is now a court monitor on the case, found that in many cases they did not result in the person being restored to competency.
Metropolitan Public Defense and Disability Rights Oregon asked Nelson to issue the order back in March. The request is based on recommendations from Pinals, who has provided a series of reports on the hospital.
Beyond changing the time someone can be in restoration treatment at OSH, the order changes who can be admitted.
People charged with low-level, non-violent felonies and misdemeanors, like resisting arrest or disorderly conduct, will no longer be admitted to the hospital for competency restoration.
The courts will decide where those defendants are directed. Some options include community restoration, civil commitment or dismissing the charges, OSH spokesperson Marsha Sills said.
“The subtext of this is stop charging these people for crimes, when these are really manifestations of mental illness,” Cooper said.
Pinals had found diminishing clinical returns and high costs of treatment for people who “if they’d been convicted, they would have spent a long weekend in jail,” Cooper said.
“The duration of hospitalization may exceed the time an individual would have served if convicted, particularly when sentences are less than 90 days, with the average length of stay for restoration reaching 116.5 days,” Pinals wrote in a March 16 report.
Pinals estimated in March that with the changes to extensions and admissions the state could likely comply with the seven-day admission requirement within two and a half months.
The order is projected to bring the state into compliance by the end of the year.
“It’s forcing the system to think about an alternative rather than forced institutionalization on the state’s dime,” Cooper said of the order.
Remedial order draws criticism
Not everyone is in support of Nelson’s decision.
“The Board of Commissioners is very opposed to the new request from Disability Rights Oregon because they are only considering the interest of the individual who has committed the crime,” Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethell told the Statesman Journal a few days before the order. “They are not considering the harm or challenge in the community.”
Counties have been stuck and frustrated because the responsibility to provide community-based care falls on them, Bethell said.
“Nobody wants anybody with a mental illness to be stuck in jail and not be able to move through the process of the criminal justice system. Nobody wants that on either side of the ideological divide,” Bethell said.
She highlighted Salem’s REACH, Rapid Engagement, Assessment and Community Health team as one way the community is working to relieve pressure on emergency services that have been responding to mental health crises, “but it’s still inadequate because we don’t have all the stairs of that escalator for that system.”
State leadership, staffing issues challenge Oregon State Hospital
Both Cooper and Bethell pointed to the state’s top leaders and the hospital’s staffing challenges as major issues plaguing progress at OSH.
The hospital’s changing patient population and the pandemic have meant more patients with higher needs, fewer programming options and more pressure on staff, Cooper said.
Four of the eight top OSH executives are interims, including the superintendent and medical and nursing officers.
“I think at the end of the day, what we’ve been concerned about is less about OHA, less about the state hospital, and from a leadership top down,” Cooper said. “Like, from the governor’s office, from the legislature – are you really funding the hospital and the Oregon Health Authority in a way that really allows them to do their jobs?”
The governor and legislature should “walk and chew gum at the same time” by hiring more staff for the hospital while working with local leaders on prevention, Bethell told the Statesman Journal.
“There’s no state law that says they cannot increase capacity and provide better care for individuals that come into the state hospital and a better environment for employees who work in the state hospital,” she said.
Problems with Oregon’s behavioral health system ‘are not fixable overnight,’ court monitor says
Gov. Tina Kotek’s office did not respond to a question about future funding for the hospital, instead pointing to increases in community treatment beds during Kotek’s term.
“I am committed to ensuring Oregonians can access the health care they need, when they need it,” Kotek said in a provided statement. “Together, we are building a system with the capacity to meet the behavioral health needs of Oregonians in the timely fashion they deserve.”
Her administration has helped facilitate the development of 930 new and in-progress residential treatment beds, increasing the state’s capacity by over 30%, spokesperson Hanna Seay Thomas said.
“The Governor has been clear that increased treatment and workforce capacity are essential to having a complete continuum of behavioral healthcare across the state that will serve people better and help to relieve pressure on OSH,” she said.
The most straightforward way to address the intake delays is by adding treatment capacity to help divert people from being admitted to the hospital and provide a place for patients leaving to be discharged, Sills said.
Those projects take time, two to four years on average. The hospital and OHA’s behavioral health division, she said, are working with community programs to make the discharge process better.
Leaders at OHA and OSH were not made available for comment.
While Cooper pointed to the slowly decreasing wait list as a positive sign, Bethell believes things have only gotten “more volatile and negative” since the contempt finding last year.
Hospital leadership and OHA’s behavioral health division meet with Pinals each week, Sills said.
“Despite the lack of compliance with the 7-day admission requirement, in my opinion, at this time OHA is working reasonably and appropriately to address the needs that this Court has required,” Pinals wrote in a March report. “The problems that the behavioral health system is facing are not fixable overnight, but there are many steps that have been taken to help.”
Anastasia Mason covers state government for the Statesman Journal. Reach her at acmason@statesmanjournal.com or 971-208-5615.
Oregon Army National Guard soldiers tested a new method of clearing battlefield obstacles during annual training this week by using a heavy-lift drone to remotely deliver and detonate a live explosive charge.
The proof-of-concept demonstration took place June 22 and was led by soldiers with Bravo Company, 741st Brigade Engineer Battalion, 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team.
The exercise focused on using an unmanned aircraft to carry a live Bangalore torpedo — an explosive device designed to clear wire obstacles — allowing engineers to breach barriers while remaining farther from potential enemy threats.
Army engineers are responsible for creating safe routes for friendly forces by clearing obstacles such as concertina wire and minefields. Traditionally, placing explosive charges requires soldiers to move close to enemy positions, increasing their exposure to danger.
During the demonstration, a heavy-lift drone carried the explosive charge to a wire obstacle before remotely detonating it, successfully creating a lane through the barrier.
The project was the result of several months of planning by the battalion’s drone working group under the direction of battalion commander Lt. Col. Eric Zimmerman. The unit partnered with Ashland-based Lorica Technologies, which provided the heavy-lift drone used during the demonstration.
Lt. Col. Zimmerman said recent conflicts have highlighted the importance of adapting new technologies for the battlefield.
“Watching what’s happening in Ukraine and seeing how innovative they’ve been inspires you to get better and think bigger,” Lt. Col. Zimmerman said.
The team conducted multiple tests before the live demonstration, beginning with inert training devices before progressing to live explosives. Officials said the final test successfully delivered and detonated a two-section Bangalore torpedo.
Lt. Col. Zimmerman credited the project’s success to collaboration between battalion leadership and the soldiers responsible for carrying out the mission.
“I’m really proud,” Lt. Col. Zimmerman said. “The Soldiers of Bravo Company took an idea from the battalion staff and applied their expertise to make that idea functional and effective.”
Military officials said the demonstration highlights how the Oregon Army National Guard is incorporating emerging unmanned aircraft technology into engineer operations. Lessons learned from the project are expected to help shape future training and the Army’s continued integration of drones into combat engineering missions.
The Oregon Army National Guard is made up of citizen-soldiers who serve part time while maintaining civilian careers, attending school or raising families. In addition to federal deployments, Guard members respond to state emergencies such as wildfires, floods and winter storms when activated by the governor.
The Oregon Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at June 25, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Pick 4 numbers from June 25 drawing
1PM: 9-9-6-3
4PM: 5-1-5-7
7PM: 7-4-0-5
10PM: 9-1-2-4
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Oregon Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 7:59 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 7:59 p.m. on Tuesday and Friday.
- Pick 4: 1 p.m., 4 p.m., 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. daily.
- Win for Life: 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Megabucks: 7:29 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by an Oregon editor. You can send feedback using this form.
What to know about the Coffin Butte Landfill expansion proposal
Republic Services has asked Benton County for a conditional use permit to expand the 178-acre landfill.
Seven Oregon counties could join together to build and manage solid waste infrastructure and services, under a proposal being considered by a legislative task force.
The aim is to lower costs, provide stability, and ensure that one or two counties don’t bear the financial and environmental costs of taking the entire region’s garbage, Rep. Sarah Finger McDonald, D-Corvallis, told the 12-member Joint Task Force on Municipal Solid Waste in the Willamette Valley.
The Oregon Legislature created the task force last year, to identify solutions for solid waste disposal in the valley, after the region’s garbage disposal options were thrown into flux.
The Reworld incinerator in Brooks, where most of Marion County’s garbage was burned for four decades, closed at the end of 2024.
And residents in nearby Benton County are fighting an expansion of Coffin Butte Landfill, which takes much of Marion County’s and the region’s waste. Even with an expansion, the landfill is expected to close in little more than a decade.
The task force has met six times since mid-December 2025. It must submit a report to interim legislative committees related to the environment by Dec. 15. The task force sunsets on Dec. 31.
Finger McDonald’s proposal, which is the only one yet considered by the task force, would create a voluntary state and local partnership program designed to help counties, cities and regional governments finance and build garbage, recycling, composting and waste-reduction infrastructure.
It would include Marion, Polk, Yamhill, Linn, Benton, Lincoln and Tillamook counties.
“The cities and counties will come together to make a plan. The cities and the counties in this region know what the problem is,” McDonald Finger said. “Whatever is going to be built is going to be expensive.”
The proposal authorizes local governments and regional authorities to direct waste into approved systems when necessary to support infrastructure financing and long-term system stability.
Marion County is currently the only county in the state with a law giving it control over waste disposal, although Oregon Metro manages garbage and recycling for the three-county Portland Metro area.
The proposal would allow the state to help local governments with bonding assistance, matching grants, technical assistance and more. Local governments could choose to build transfer stations, recycling facilities, composting systems, methane capture projects or other infrastructure projects.
“And then those cities and counties would build that infrastructure they need, and would have the option of establishing a fee,” she said.
The proposal also could allow public-private partnerships and collaboration with private waste operators, Finger McDonald said.
The earliest the legislature could pass a bill authorizing the plan would be 2027, Finger McDonald said, meaning it would not go into effect until 2028.
Tracy Loew covers the environment at the Statesman Journal. Send comments, questions and tips: tloew@statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6779. Follow her on X at @Tracy_Loew
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