A new facility for Mississippians with mental illness who are involved in the criminal justice system will open early next year.

The 83-bed maximum-security building at Mississippi State Hospital in Whitfield should open in January, Department of Mental Health Executive Director Wendy Bailey told Mississippi Today.

Once staffed, the new building will bring the state’s forensic bed count to 123, up from 65 current beds.

Officials are hopeful the new building will cut down on wait times for mental health treatment for people in prison. Mississippi has the second-longest wait time for such treatment in the country, according to a study by the nonprofit Treatment Advocacy Center.

“We are proud to be able to offer this service to Mississipians and to offer this environment to the people that we’re serving and to our staff as well,” she said.

Forensic services are for people with criminal charges who need mental health treatment before facing trial and people who have been deemed not guilty by reason of insanity.

Agency spokesperson Adam Moore said at the end of August, 68 people were waiting for inpatient evaluation or competency restoration services, he said. Fifty-five of those people were awaiting services from jail.

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The Department of Mental Health plans to permanently close 25 maximum security forensic beds in a 70-year-old facility.

The current maximum security unit has notable deficiencies, including “rampant” plumbing issues, blind corners, no centralized fire suppression system and padlocks on the door, said Dr. Tom Recore, medical director at the Department of Mental Health. It also requires high numbers of personnel to staff.

The building’s closure has been long awaited.

“We could have used a new forensic unit 20 years ago,” Bailey said.

In comparison, the new building will be a safe, “therapeutic” environment, she said.

“If you create a space that folks feel is something worth taking care of, then patients, staff and everyone alike ends up behaving in ways that end up being more prosocial,” Recore said.

Construction on the new building should be completed in November, said Bailey. The Department of Mental Health will begin a “heavy recruiting effort” to staff the unit this fall.

The Legislature awarded $4 million for six months’ staffing of the new building, given the facility’s mid-fiscal year opening.

Plans for the new 83-bed building have been in the works for years now, said Bailey.

In 2016, the department’s forensic services unit was composed of just 35 maximum security beds, she said.

The Department of Mental Health first put out a bid for preplanning of renovation or replacement of the building in 2018, but the project stalled during the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency was forced to reissue a call for bids, with bids coming back “significantly higher” than before, Bailey said.

Construction costs for the building totaled $36.5 million. The state legislature allocated funding for the project in 2018, 2023 and 2024.

The new facility is a crucial part of building out a “continuum of care” within the state’s forensic system, said Recore.

The maximum security facility will provide an entry point for people receiving forensic services, but placement in a medium-security unit, group homes and work programs will be options for patients based on a clinical review team’s evaluation.

The group homes at Central Mississippi Residential Center in Newton have not been staffed yet, but are the next step to creating a more robust continuum of services, said Recore.

Twenty-four beds will eventually be staffed at Central Mississippi Residential Center, and Recore envisions an outpatient supervision system as the next horizon.

“And then, you have an actually functioning forensic system in a state that hasn’t had one before,” he said.

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This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.