Senate Democrats blast LePage plan to mix Riverview patients, prisoners
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage’s proposal to mix severely mentally ill patients with convicted criminals will face fierce resistance by Senate Democrats.
On Monday, the LePage administration announced a plan to place mentally ill patients who have not been convicted of any crime into a mental health unit located within the Maine State Prison in Warren. That unit currently houses mentally ill convicts.
“This proposal represents a backward approach to mental health that we cannot allow. These Maine people may be severely ill, but they are not criminals, and they shouldn’t be treated like them,” said Sen. Dawn Hill of York, the Assistant Senate Democratic Leader. “This is not only a matter of bad policy, but a colossal lapse of moral judgment.”
Like many other states, the idea of mixing the mentally ill and convicted criminals is not new to Maine. In previous centuries, mentally ill patients in Maine were locked away. However, the state ceased that practice decades ago out of recognition that it was wrong.
Gov. LePage has pitched his proposal as a solution to the consistent inability of his administration to appropriately manage the Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta, the state-run mental health facility for civil patients, and those deemed “not criminally responsible” or “incompetent to stand trial.” Chronic understaffing and mismanagement at Riverview have left the facility unable to meet its obligations, and spurred the federal government to strip Riverview of its certification and federal funding.
“Gov. LePage is trying to distract from his failures at Riverview, and now wants some of the Mainers most in need of help to pay the price,” said Sen. Anne Haskell of Portland, the lead Senate Democrat on the Health and Human Services Committee. “The solution, for the state and for these patients, is to fix Riverview. Fulfilling the hospital’s staffing needs and working with the Legislature on a comprehensive, realistic solution would be a start. Putting severely ill people in prison isn’t a solution.”
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