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Western State Hospital-Center for Forensic Services (formerly Legal Offenders Unit)

LAKEWOOD, WASHINGTON, USA KMD conducted the feasibility study and was awarded the design and construction contract for the Legal Offender Unit, within Western State Hospital’s East Campus. The 240-bed facility includes patient care wards: two Acute Care Wards, two Sub-Acute Care Wards, and four Extended Care Wards; as well as an Activity Center, an Admissions/Outpatient Evaluation Suite, an Administration Suite, and related support functions. The self-sufficient, multi-classification facility provides the majority of criminal forensic mental health evaluation for the Washington State Division of Mental Health in Western Washington. Part of a ten year planning process, the Unit is designed as a secured facility to protect public safety and provide a therapeutic environment for the treatment of mentally ill offender patients –court ordered forensic mental health evaluations assessing competency to stand trail, treatment for those determined incompetent, therapy for those adjudged criminally insane, and long-term, inpatient rehabilitation for mentally disabled committed offenders admitted from the Department of Corrections. As a direct supervision management model facility, which encourages staff/patient interaction, the Unit has a maximum-security perimeter with different levels of security in various program components.