* Capitol News Illinois last month…

The Illinois Department of Human Services announced Thursday that the Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in Anna will lay off staff and undergo several operational changes in the coming months, including the elimination of the state-run facility’s entire general residential program for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

According to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — the union that represents the majority of Choate staff — IDHS said it intends to lay off about 250 of the facility’s more than 500 employees over the coming months.

In a letter to Choate staff, IDHS said that the changes are a result of the “success” of the state’s three-year plan, which aimed to repurpose the facility over three years in partnership with the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.

According to the letter, IDHS plans to cease operations for the intellectual and developmental disabilities general units by Sept. 30. The department will also “phase down” 75 civil mental health beds at Choate while adding beds to the Madden Mental Health Center in Chicago. This phase-down, says IDHS, which is planned to be completed by March 2027, is because the “need for mental health beds is greater in northern Illinois.” […]

Choate’s 40-bed forensic developmental disabilities unit will continue operations, as will the other IDHS administrative offices on the Choate campus.

* AFSCME filed suit yesterday to block the cuts…

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)—the union representing most employees of Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center—yesterday filed a lawsuit that seeks to halt Illinois state government’s plan to close the facilities, sharply reducing mental health and disability services in southern Illinois and laying off more than 250 employees.

The threatened cuts violate multiple state laws intended to protect essential services for people with mental illness and developmental disability and to prohibit disruptive closures to large facilities without adequate oversight, the lawsuit contends.

Joined as named plaintiffs by Union County state’s attorney Tyler Tripp and AFSCME Local 141 president Tina Winfield, AFSCME Council 31 filed the suit in the circuit court of the first judicial district in Union County, where the Choate center is located.

The State of Illinois, Governor JB Pritzker, the Illinois Department of Human Services and IDHS secretary Dulce Quintero are defendants.

The lawsuit asks the court to enjoin the state from taking further steps to slash services and jobs at Choate and to direct DHS to comply with all applicable laws. […]

These drastic cuts violate three separate state laws, the AFSCME suit contends:

Count I – Violation of the Health Facilities Planning Act

- One of the purposes of the Health Facilities Planning Act is to ensure that the residents in every region of the State have access to physical and mental health care. The act requires health care facilities to receive either a permit or an exemption from the Health Facilities Planning Board if they seek to reduce the health care services provided by a covered facility in certain ways. DHS has not obtained a permit or an exemption prior to implementing its decision to close the general developmental disabilities facility and the mental health facility at Choate.

Count II – Violation of the Illinois State Facilities Closure Act

- Prior to closing a state facility, the state must comply with the notice and hearing requirements of the State Facilities Closure Act. DHS is closing the psychiatric hospital at Choate which provides mental health services to individuals with mental illness and closing the facilities that provide care to the general population of residents with developmental disabilities at Choate. Yet defendants have taken no steps to comply with the Facilities Closure Act.

Count III – Violation of the Mental Health Inpatient Facility Access Act

- In 2022, in response to a shortage of publicly funded services for the care of individuals with mental illness, the General Assembly enacted the Mental Health Inpatient Facility Access Act, which prohibited reductions in the number of state-operated psychiatric inpatient beds and requires the state to improve, not eliminate, access to such beds. DHS is implementing a plan to eliminate 75 psychiatric inpatient beds at Choate, and has yet to take any action to increase the available beds at other state mental health centers, thus decreasing the number of psychiatric inpatient beds. In addition, eliminating or moving such beds hundreds of miles to the north will severely reduce access to state psychiatric beds in Southern Illinois. Closing beds and reducing access is in clear violation of the Mental Health Inpatient Facility Access Act.

* From the complaint…

Plaintiffs have no adequate remedy at law for this ongoing violation of State statute.
Wherefore, plaintiffs pray for the following relief:

a) that the Court issue a declaratory judgement that defendants have violated the Inpatient Facility Access Act;
b) that the Court enjoin the defendants from taking any further action to implement the closure the mental health facility unit at Choate until it has complied with the Inpatient Facility Access Act;
c) that the Court order the defendants to maintain 75 inpatient psychiatric beds at Choate until it has created an additional 75 beds at other SOMHCs (State Operated Mental Health Centers);
d) that the Court enjoin any layoffs from Choate due to the closure of the mental health facility until the defendants have created an additional 75 beds at other SOMHCs; and
e) any other relief the Court deems equitable and just.

* Related…

* WSIU | Union County state’s attorney sues to block cuts at Choate Mental Health Center: Tripp filed the suit on behalf of Union County Sheriff David Wilkins and Justin Emrick, the legal guardian of a Choate resident. The lawsuit names IDHS Secretary Dulce Quintero, four agency employees, and the facility itself as defendants. The complaint alleges IDHS has failed for nearly a decade to comply with court orders to provide timely inpatient services for individuals detained in county jails across Southern Illinois, calling the noncompliance a systemic issue.

* Saluki Reporting Lab | Employees, local lawmakers rally against layoffs, service cuts at Choate: Gov. JB Pritzker recently defended the IDHS decision during a July 28 news conference and bill signing, saying the staffing cuts follow the relocation of residents from Choate’s general developmental disabilities program. The downsizing of Choate’s developmental disabilities population followed reporting by Capitol News Illinois and ProPublica outlining the severe mistreatment of patients by staff and a culture of coverup that had persisted for years, despite state and federal regulators repeatedly citing problems and calling for improvements.