PHOENIX — A bipartisan group of lawmakers at the Arizona State Capitol is proposing major reforms to the care of individuals with serious mental illness receiving court-ordered treatment. Two bills are meant to address a perceived gap in security for individuals discharged from the Arizona State Hospital. Two other proposals are designed to make the hospital more accountable.
Helping 'the most vulnerable'
“I really hope our lawmakers can look at this need,” said Sommer Walter of Mesa, a reform advocate, who applauds the proposals. “No one is looking out for our most vulnerable individuals.”
Walter and other relatives of individuals with serious mental illness, some affiliated with the group “Mad Moms,” are lobbying legislators to act.
The Arizona State Hospital, ASH, provides services to mental health patients civilly committed because they pose a danger to self or others. The population also serves patients considered “gravely disabled” and those in the criminal justice system.
Several proposals led by Republican Sen. T.J. Shope and Democrat Sen. Catherine Miranda already have bipartisan support.
Creating a 'middle ground' of care
SB1102 would create a non-residential “civil reintegration unit” and SB1101 would allocate $30 million next year to build three secure residential behavioral facilities for those patients.
The bills are needed because a typical state system should provide four levels of care for SMI patients and Arizona lacks two of the four levels, said Will Humble of the Arizona Public Health Association.
The state’s psychiatric hospital represents the most restrictive level of care. Behavioral health group homes represent the least restrictive level.
“The state has lots of residential group homes, but nothing that represents a middle ground between group homes and the state hospital system,” Humble said. Those “middle ground” levels are a civil reintegration unit and a secure residential behavioral health facility. Absent those levels of care, patients leave the hospital setting and go straight to the least restrictive environment, a group home, where they are more likely to have another health crisis, disappear or return to the criminal system.
“Parents often feel like they do everything possible to get court-ordered treatment, and get very frustrated when their child ends up in crisis because they walked away from a group home,” Humble said.
A law passed in 2022 required ADHS to release a clinical improvement plan for ASH. The report concluded the state needs a step-down facility that is more structured than a group home to accommodate people discharged from ASH.
'The fundamental flaw' is ADHS runs and regulates the hospital
12News has reported extensively on the gaps in care for individuals with serious mental illness, and the tragedies and violence that occur as a result of those gaps.
Critics say the state is not accountable because the Arizona Department of Health Services both runs and regulates ASH.
SB1100 would resolve that conflict of interest by privatizing the hospital.
SB1103 would create an independent governing board to oversee the hospital.
Walter said she wants an independent board in place. Her brother, Darren Beach, was a patient at the hospital in 2021 and was arrested for assaulting an employee.
Although Beach is serving a two-year sentence, his case revealed a lack of staffing and resources at the hospital to protect both patients and staff. Walter said she realized the need for independent oversight.
“I feel with the level of violence, the lack of accountability, and the deaths even within the state hospital, that we 100% need that (proposal),” Walter said.
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