Bec Marie
04-21-2005, 09:15 AM
Mental facility coming to CIM?
Proposed building would house 1,500 ill inmates
By Mason Stockstill
Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 - CHINO - The California Department of Corrections plans to build a facility that could house 1,500 mentally ill inmates near the California Institution for Men.
The preliminary proposal calls for construction of a new building at the prison complex that would hold inmates whose mental illnesses require special treatment.
"This is just proposed," said Margot Bach, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections. "Nothing is set in concrete yet."
Already, however, the plan has sparked opposition from some in Chino Hills, where housing developments sit near the edge of the state's property.
"Chino Hills will be by far the most impacted, with (homes) a block away and a high school just down the road from the site," said Councilwoman Gwenn Norton-Perry.
The plan is the result of an effort that began years ago to improve the care of seriously mentally ill inmates throughout California, Bach said.
Consultants hired by the department recommended handling the issue regionally, by establishing one facility each in Northern California, Central California and Southern California.
For Southern California, CIM was chosen because unlike many other Southern California prisons, its location is closer to an urbanized area.
"We were looking at where we can place a mental health facility on prison property where it would be easy enough to recruit and retain mental-health-care professionals," Bach said.
Bach said she believed the new facility would be near El Prado Road, on the southwest corner of the state land, in the same location where the Inland Empire Utilities Agency proposed a compost facility several years ago. The compost plant was scuttled in the face of community protest.
That location is less than a half-mile from homes in Chino Hills' Fairfield Ranch development, said Norton-Perry, who was concerned that the project has never been discussed with city officials or residents.
"If residents were aware of this, they would be outraged as well," she said. "These are high-risk inmates -- 1,500 of them -- with obvious mental problems."
A handful of inmates have escaped from CIM in recent years. In 1983, Kevin Cooper escaped and was eventually convicted of killing four people in Chino Hills a few days later.
Bach said the proposed facility is still far from a reality, and planning and review processes involving public input must be completed in the coming years.
Still, Norton-Perry said it is inappropriate to consider the site for such a use, based on its proximity to a residential area.
"CIM is no longer a facility in a remote, rural area," she said. "Given the problems that are currently happening at CIM, this is only going to make those more complex and far more serious."
Staff Writer Blanca E. Sanchez contributed to this report.
Mason Stockstill can be reached by e-mail mason.stockstill@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-4643.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203~21481~2827336,00.html#
Proposed building would house 1,500 ill inmates
By Mason Stockstill
Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 - CHINO - The California Department of Corrections plans to build a facility that could house 1,500 mentally ill inmates near the California Institution for Men.
The preliminary proposal calls for construction of a new building at the prison complex that would hold inmates whose mental illnesses require special treatment.
"This is just proposed," said Margot Bach, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections. "Nothing is set in concrete yet."
Already, however, the plan has sparked opposition from some in Chino Hills, where housing developments sit near the edge of the state's property.
"Chino Hills will be by far the most impacted, with (homes) a block away and a high school just down the road from the site," said Councilwoman Gwenn Norton-Perry.
The plan is the result of an effort that began years ago to improve the care of seriously mentally ill inmates throughout California, Bach said.
Consultants hired by the department recommended handling the issue regionally, by establishing one facility each in Northern California, Central California and Southern California.
For Southern California, CIM was chosen because unlike many other Southern California prisons, its location is closer to an urbanized area.
"We were looking at where we can place a mental health facility on prison property where it would be easy enough to recruit and retain mental-health-care professionals," Bach said.
Bach said she believed the new facility would be near El Prado Road, on the southwest corner of the state land, in the same location where the Inland Empire Utilities Agency proposed a compost facility several years ago. The compost plant was scuttled in the face of community protest.
That location is less than a half-mile from homes in Chino Hills' Fairfield Ranch development, said Norton-Perry, who was concerned that the project has never been discussed with city officials or residents.
"If residents were aware of this, they would be outraged as well," she said. "These are high-risk inmates -- 1,500 of them -- with obvious mental problems."
A handful of inmates have escaped from CIM in recent years. In 1983, Kevin Cooper escaped and was eventually convicted of killing four people in Chino Hills a few days later.
Bach said the proposed facility is still far from a reality, and planning and review processes involving public input must be completed in the coming years.
Still, Norton-Perry said it is inappropriate to consider the site for such a use, based on its proximity to a residential area.
"CIM is no longer a facility in a remote, rural area," she said. "Given the problems that are currently happening at CIM, this is only going to make those more complex and far more serious."
Staff Writer Blanca E. Sanchez contributed to this report.
Mason Stockstill can be reached by e-mail mason.stockstill@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-4643.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203~21481~2827336,00.html#