An agreement between the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and advocates for people with psychiatric and mental health needs could end 30 years of court oversight of state mental health services.
The state can petition to end the court injunction if its meets benchmark standards in four out of six consecutive quarters.
The so-called “AMHI Consent Decree” dates to 1990 when conditions were so bad at the state’s Augusta Mental Health Institute that the courts stepped in and appointed a special master.
Gov. Janet Mills, who announced the agreement on Friday, said the AMHI consent decree “marked the beginning of a long and necessary process to improve Maine’s mental health system.”
“With this landmark agreement, the resolution of the consent decree is within sight,” she said in a statement.
The consent decree settled a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of AMHI patients after a series of deaths in 1988.
The 99-page decree laid out principles for the state to follow in treatment, patient rights and services. AMHI was replaced by the 92-bed Riverview Psychiatric Center in 2004.
Maine DHHS Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew said the recent agreement “represents a clear and achievable path” toward ending the court oversight of the state’s mental health system.
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