From: gemini23x@gmail.com   
      
   Justice Department says Mississippi is violating Americans With Disabilities   
   Act   
      
   collage.jpg   
   U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch (right) announced Thursday a lawsuit by   
   the Department of Justice accusing the State of Mississippi of violating the   
   Americans with Disabilities Act. Gov. Phil Bryant, however, has suggested the   
   lawsuit is politically    
   motivated. (AP file photos)   
    The Associated Press By The Associated Press    
   on August 12, 2016 at 2:53 PM, updated August 12, 2016 at 3:10 PM   
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   JACKSON, Mississippi — The U.S. Justice Department sued Mississippi on   
   Thursday, saying the state is violating the Americans With Disabilities Act by   
   "unnecessarily and illegally" making mentally ill people go into state-run   
   psychiatric hospitals.   
      
   The state has failed to provide community-based services that would enable   
   people with mental illnesses to have meaningful interaction with friends and   
   family and to make decisions about work and daily life, says the suit filed   
   Thursday in U.S. District    
   Court in Jackson. It also says life in an institution leads to stigma,   
   isolation and learned helplessness.   
      
   "For far too long, Mississippi has failed people with mental illness,   
   violating their civil rights by confining them in isolating institutions,"   
   Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement. "Our lawsuit seeks to end   
   these injustices, and it sends    
   a clear signal that we will continue to fight for the full rights and   
   liberties of Americans with mental illness."   
      
   Republican Gov. Phil Bryant called the lawsuit "another attempt by the federal   
   government to dictate policy to the states through the courts."   
      
   He said in a statement that Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, a Democrat,   
   had been having discussions with the Justice Department about the state's   
   mental health system for some time.   
      
   "The current system of mental health in Mississippi has existed for many   
   years, yet the DOJ has just now decided to take issue with it," Bryant said.   
   "For this reason, among others, we believe the lawsuit is without merit."   
      
   Mississippi Department of Mental Health spokesman Adam Moore said he can't   
   comment on the lawsuit but the department runs nine crisis units that try to   
   keep people close to home and help them avoid long-term institutionalization.   
      
   Mental health advocates have long pushed for community-based services in a   
   state with a tight budget. Among them is Joy Hogge, executive director of the   
   nonprofit Families as Allies.   
      
   "I am hopeful that this lawsuit will at last bring the kinds of services and   
   support that people with mental illnesses need so they, just like the rest of   
   us, can live in the community and be able to have productive and meaningful   
   lives," Hogge said in    
   an interview Thursday.   
      
   The lawsuit says on a randomly chosen day in 2014, more than 55 percent of the   
   206 adults in the shorter-term units at the Mississippi State Hospital had   
   previously been admitted at least twice, and more than 11 percent had   
   previously been admitted more    
   than 10 times.   
      
   "Individuals with persistent needs cycle through the State Hospitals over and   
   over again, to say nothing of admissions to local emergency rooms, private   
   psychiatric hospitals and jails," the lawsuit says. "Readmissions typically   
   result from insufficient    
   services in the community and inadequate coordination between treating   
   professionals in facilities and those who support the individuals when they   
   are in the community."   
      
   The Southern Poverty Law Center sued Mississippi in 2010, claiming the state   
   illegally sends mentally ill children to institutions instead of caring for   
   them at home, violating the Medicaid Act and the Americans with Disabilities   
   Act. In 2011, the    
   Justice Department issued a report accusing Mississippi of widespread   
   violations.   
      
   Talks to settle the lawsuit over children's mental health services stalled   
   early this year, and the Justice Department said in a news release Thursday   
   that it is supporting the 2010 suit and "remains committed to resolving all of   
   the violations the    
   department identified."   
      
   Hood is the only Democrat in statewide office in Mississippi. He called the   
   suit a challenge for the Republican-led Legislature to find money to expand   
   services.   
      
   "This lawsuit is a clarion call to all of us in state leadership to consider   
   how we care for the least among us and how we can make it better," Hood said.   
      
   This isn't the DOJ's first foray into Mississippi to investigate violations of   
   the ADA.   
      
   In 2014, the Justice Department found that the City of Ocean Springs had   
   violated the ADA by discriminating against the mentally ill when its board of   
   aldermen voted to deny a permit to Psycamore, LLC, which wanted to operate a   
   clinic on Iberville Drive.   
      
   The DOJ outlined several remedies for the City, which complied with those   
   requests and thus avoided a lawsuit being brought by the Justice Department.   
   Two lawsuits were ultimately filed by Psycamore principal Dr. Sudhakar   
   Madakasira and Roger Applewhite,    
   the Iberville property owner.   
      
   Both lawsuits were settled out of court, but coupled with legal fees cost the   
   City of Ocean Springs $667,500.   
      
      
      
   http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2016/08/justice_   
   epartment_says_missis.html   
      
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