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Mental health deal abandoned in budget crisis

Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL) - 7/11/2015

July 11--PEORIA -- A proposed agreement for massive improvements to mental health services for more than 10,000 state prisoners has been scrapped after lawyers for the state conceded that it's unlikely money will be available in the foreseeable future.

The settlement in a federal lawsuit pending since 2007 called for about $100 million in staffing and infrastructure improvements to help inmates with a wide range of mental disorders.

Lawyers for the Department of Corrections and inmates told U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mihm at a hearing Tuesday that a proposed settlement was being abandoned and the lawsuit will move forward.

Alan Mills, one of the lawyers for inmates seeking better mental health care, said the state indicated that the uncertainty of the state's budget is behind the decision to end negotiations. The two sides have been working for months to craft a plan to renovate several prisons to provide residential care and counseling services. Still unresolved was a final plan for hospital-level care that is currently lacking for seriously mentally ill prisoners.

Mills said Friday he is disappointed the agreement is off the table for the time being. The state's budget problem "is not a legal barrier" to progress in the effort to improve services, said Mills.

One piece of the proposed settlement called for renovations to a former youth prison in Joliet to serve as a treatment facility, a project approved in the state's capital budget, noted Mills.

The DOC said in June that a freeze on state construction projects would not impact the state's work to improve mental health services.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan also has been in court to argue for continued state funding for agreements in federal lawsuits, said Mills.

The DOC declined comment Friday on the recent developments in the federal lawsuit.

Mihm also agreed this week with lawyers for the inmates that all 11,000 mentally ill inmates may be considered for inclusion in the class action lawsuit. A definition adopted by Mihm states that current and future inmates who are identified or should have been identified as in need of mental health services are eligible parties in the lawsuit.

Documentation to support a mental health diagnosis for each prisoner must be submitted by the inmate's legal team, Mihm ruled.

An Aug. 27 hearing is scheduled in the case that could be ready for a trial by the end of 2015.

Follow Edith Brady-Lunny on Twitter: @pg_blunny

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