Advocates slam LePage plan to place Riverview patients in prison unit
Source: Bangor Daily News
UGUSTA, Maine — A proposal from Gov. Paul LePage to place violent patients with mental illnesses at the Maine State Prison ran into stiff resistance after its Monday roll-out.
Jenna Mehnert, the executive director of NAMI Maine, condemned the plan in harsh terms, saying the group was “flabbergasted,” “shocked” and “horrified” at the plan, which she called “criminalization of mental illness.”
It’s LePage’s response to problems at the Riverview Psychiatric Center, the state-run hospital on Augusta’s east side that was decertified by the federal government in 2013 and is struggling with staffing shortages that a watchdog has said puts patients and staff at risk.
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services said Monday that its proposal would allow it to move violent patients at the hospital to a 32-bed unit at the state prison in Warren that opened in 2014 with support from advocates to treat people in Maine’s prison and jail systems with mental illnesses.
<more>
Read more: http://bangordailynews.com/2016/02/01/politics/advocates-slam-lepage-plan-to-place-riverview-patients-in-prison-unit/
= new reply since forum marked as read
