Washington to Boost Mental Hospitals’ Security After Escapes

Washington officials promised they were working quickly to increase security at the state’s psychiatric hospitals after a week in which two patients escaped and another two went missing.

The Western State Hospital in Lakewood, Wash., on Oct. 8, 2015. A violent ex-felon who escaped from the Washington state psychiatric hospital that's under federal scrutiny over safety violations remained elusive Friday morning, April 8, 2016, a Spokane County Sheriff's deputy said. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

SEATTLE—Washington officials promised they were working quickly to increase security at the state’s psychiatric hospitals after a week in which two patients escaped and another two went missing.

A man accused of torturing a 20-year-old woman to death in 2013 was recaptured Friday night after a two-day, cross-state manhunt that some worried would not end peacefully.

“I was afraid this was going to go sideways,” Spokane sheriff’s spokesman Mark Gregory said Saturday. “I’m glad it didn’t.”

I was afraid this was going to go sideways. I'm glad it didn't.

— Mark Gregory, sheriff's spokesman, Spokane, Wash.