Illinois Required to Move Hundreds of Mentally Ill Out of Institutions

A class action settlement will require Illinois to help thousands of people move out of large mental institutions over the next five years and provide them support services.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups, Illinois violated the civil rights of 4,500 mentally ill people by forcing them to live in institutions where they are forced to live with dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of others with mental illness. The only other choice these people had, according to the complaint, is to be homeless.

According to the Chicago Sun Times, mental health experts from Yale University School of Medicine interviewed residents of eight Illinois mental institutions and found nearly 70 percent said they would like to move out if given the opportunity. One of the plaintiffs in the suit says he wants to find a place of his own and get a job, but is repeatedly told by the nursing home he resides in that they’ll “see what we can do.” He claims he lacks privacy, can’t have guests, and turns over all of his disability check to the facility except for $30 a month.

The proposed settlement will affect only the mentally ill residents who are capable of living in the community with assistance from services to help them manage their lives.