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| With psychiatric beds full, mentally ill in Maryland are stuck in jails |
| By baltimoresun.com- Michael Dresser |
| Published: 06/09/2016 |
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Dozens of mentally ill men and women who have been charged with crimes are languishing in jails across Maryland despite court orders to send them to state hospitals for evaluation and treatment. The state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which spurned a consultant's warning four years ago, does not have enough beds or staff to treat new patients, officials say. The shortage comes as 80 percent of those admitted to such facilities are arriving via the criminal justice system. Union officials blame the shortages on what they call the state's cost-saving policy of pushing care of the mentally ill into the private sector. The state's psychiatric inpatient capacity declined from about 3,000 beds in the 1980s to about 960 now, a squeeze the state's top health official calls a crisis. Read More. |
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