Washington governor fires hospital chief following inmates' escape

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday fired the head of a beleaguered state psychiatric hospital after an accused murderer escaped from last week.

The escape was the latest in a litany of problems at the 800-bed Western State Hospital, where violent assaults on both staff and patients have occurred.

"These incidents have justifiably eroded public confidence in the hospital," Inslee said at a news conference. "It is clear that transformative cultural change is needed at this hospital."

Inslee said he had relieved Western State Chief Executive Officer Ron Adler of his duties. Inslee said he would be replaced by Cheryl Strange, effective April 25. Strange had previously managed the state public mental health system.

Anthony Garver escaped last week from Western State Hospital in Lakewood, Washington, where he was being held after he was accused of torturing a 20-year-old woman Phillipa Evans-Lopez-- tying her to her bed with electrical cords, stabbing her 24 times in the chest and slashing her throat, prosecutors said -- in 2013. He was committed to the mental hospital to receive treatment to have his competency restored.

Garver and fellow patient Mark Alexander Adams escaped April 6 through a key-locked window. Adams was apprehended the next day. Garver traveled to Spokane, where he was caught by authorities Friday night.

The state Department of Social and Health Services initially reported that the two escaped through a key-locked window. There were no indications that the locks were defective, and officials suspected that the patients tampered with the bolts over several months, said Kathy Spears, an agency spokeswoman.

On Saturday, hospital officials sent an internal email to staff asking them to check the windows on their wards, according to an email thread obtained by The Associated Press.

Staff reported that 17 windows were compromised in wards E-6 and E-4, the emails said. Three windows had loose bolts and four had loose window panes on the E-4 ward, the staff reported. Ten windows were loose and could be pulled from the frames, or the frames themselves were loose on the E-6 ward, the emails said.

Garver was recaptured in a rural part of Spokane County after a two-day, cross-state manhunt that some worried would not end peacefully.

U.S. regulators have repeatedly cited the facility over safety concerns and threatened to cut millions in federal funding.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently extended the hospital's deadline for fixing the problems from April 1 to May 3.

A federal judge also has said the hospital has failed to provide timely competency services to mentally ill people charged with crimes.

Western State Hospital nursing supervisor Paul Vilja said Adler was difficult to work with,"As a previous union officer, I met with this CEO at least two times per week for several years," Vilja told the Associated Press.

"At no time did I feel that he assimilated the data that was provided.... In some meetings, he lost his temper and often made inappropriate comments."

Attempts to reach Adler on Tuesday afternoon weren't immediately successful.

According to state records obtained by the Associated Press, between 2010 and 2014, employees reported more than 700 injuries. More than half of those were caused by violent patient assaults at the facility.

A workplace inspection recently revealed patients had access to items "that could be used as weapons," and hat they often weren't "scanned for contraband."