ID: Secure Mental Facility Needed Now
August 2, 2007 - 11:00pm
Idaho keeps people labeled “dangerously mentally ill” in the Idaho Maximum Security Institution. Some of these people have never been convicted of crimes, but like other prisoners, they spend their time in isolation in the maximum security prison. Isolation is not healthy for any mentally ill person, regardless if he has been convicted of a crime, but the state has no other secure place to house mentally ill people who may be a danger to others.
A temporary solution is to build a twenty-person secure mental health facility on the grounds of the Idaho State School and Hospital. A long-term plan is to build a 300-bed secure mental health prison with space for 50 people who have been civilly committed. This plan will cost $60 million. A price tag hasn’t been attached to the smaller lock-up. Both plans require approval by the legislature before construction can begin. Approval for the 20-bed stop-gap facility may not occur until 2008.
This news brief is based on a story from the Idaho Press Tribune, State eyes site in Nampa for interim secure mental hospital. If the link is broken, check the newspaper’s archives.
A temporary solution is to build a twenty-person secure mental health facility on the grounds of the Idaho State School and Hospital. A long-term plan is to build a 300-bed secure mental health prison with space for 50 people who have been civilly committed. This plan will cost $60 million. A price tag hasn’t been attached to the smaller lock-up. Both plans require approval by the legislature before construction can begin. Approval for the 20-bed stop-gap facility may not occur until 2008.
This news brief is based on a story from the Idaho Press Tribune, State eyes site in Nampa for interim secure mental hospital. If the link is broken, check the newspaper’s archives.
