State hospitals have taken steps to reduce the wait times for mental heath inmate evaluations.

Karen McDonald with Eastern State Hospital says a recently opened ward has reduced the number of people for evaluations or treatment to restore competency by 67% as of last Friday.

A report submitted to a federal judge by the state's Behavioral Health Administration found that over a six-month period, jails spent almost $1.7 million to house defendants waiting for competency evaluations.

Benton County spent over $152,000 and Chelan spent around $65,000.

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