Almost all state agencies had their funding cut during the recent Mississippi legislative session, and one area seeing major cutbacks is mental health services and dependency treatment programs around the state.

“It’s a terrible situation, it’s horrible,” attorney Jerry Campbell said.

Approximately $8.3 million will be cut from funding to the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, which will lead to the closure of the 29-bed Acute Medical Psychiatric Service and the 42-bed Male Chemical Dependency Unit at the Mississippi State Hospital. The psychiatric program served 66 people and the dependency program served 429 males last year.

“They have nowhere to send them,” Campbell said.

He is upset by the funding cut, especially because it has been a state statute since 1950 to send those who have dependency problems to the state hospital.

“If they are going to cut the budget, they can’t stop mandated services,” Campbell said. “That should be the last thing cut.”

He said the family of anyone who meets the criteria of having a substance abuse problem could file a petition in the Chancery Court to involuntarily commit that person to the treatment center free of charge.

“It’s mandated service provided by the state of Mississippi so that residents of this state are not allowed to just go around and drink themselves to death,” Campbell said. “The state is going to intervene. That’s all it means.”

If the judge agrees the person needs to be committed, the courts will order it. Chancery Court Judge Vicki Barnes would not comment.

The East Mississippi State Hospital, South Mississippi State Hospital and Ellisville State School are also seeing cutbacks. With the reduction of services and force there will be no state-funded chemical dependency beds for males in Mississippi.

“It’s really terrible that you can’t send somebody that’s an alcoholic to the Mississippi State Hospital because they don’t have a bed for males,” Campbell said.

He often sends his clients to the hospital to get them help, to straighten themselves out and point them on a direction away from their criminal trouble. Campbell saw the hospital as a tool to curb criminal activity at the front end and a way to treat the actual problem.

“It really was an invaluable service because it would often come into play before they get into real bad criminal trouble,” Campbell said.

District Attorney Ricky Smith said it really hurts the defendant more than the courts.

“As far as that part of it, it affects the ability of the defendant to try to be able to correct the problem they have,” Smith said.

Local mental health organizations like Warren-Yazoo Mental Health Services will be able to treat chemically dependent males, but Campbell said its not the same because those who enter this program can not be held involuntarily and will have to pay for their services.

“They’re not equipped to handle them involuntarily,” Campbell said. “They can walk out.”

Campbell understands that cuts sometimes need to be made, but he does not understand how the entire unit can shut down. Currently the waiting time to be accepted into the dependency unit is one to two weeks, and Campbell said having them wait a little longer would be better than not having anywhere to send them.

He compared it to having a sheriff’s office. He said while the office can be small and slow to respond there still has to be law enforcement.

“Those are things you’ve got to have,” Campbell said.

In addition to dependency treatment being cut, metal evaluations ordered in felony cases will take longer to be conducted. Many people charged with a crime have to wait in jail, in some cases, for over a year to have mental evaluations performed that advise the court whether or not the person is able to stand trial. These people are left waiting because of the limited number of beds available.

With the budget cut, those people will probably be waiting in jail for longer.

“People who need to be evaluated end up in jail because there is no place for them,” Circuit Court Judge M. James Chaney said.

Last week the Warren County grand jury recommended the state legislature increase funding for mentally ill people, and this latest budget cut has Smith concerned. He said having these people incarcerated is not helping their problem.

“It’s getting to where the jails are housing more and more people who should otherwise be getting mental health counseling,” Smith said.

He said many of the people dealing with criminal cases and alcohol and drug problems are also battling mental health issues.

“A lot of times the alcohol and drug abuse go hand in hand with some type of metal health problem that they may be dealing with also,” Smith said. “You need to try to focus as much as you can on both sides of that.”

He would like the state to place more emphasis on mental health, which he sees as the root of the problem, instead of going in the opposite direction where it is currently headed.