NCJ Number
127309
Date Published
1988
Length
16 pages
Annotation
The Connecticut Ad Hoc Mental Health Advisory Committee reports on any detrimental impacts on the Fairfield Hills Hospital (mental health) of the proposed siting of the Western Connecticut Community Correctional Center on the hospital's property.
Abstract
The committee examined co-location of mental health and correctional facilities in other States, the proposed site for the correctional facility, environmental and architectural issues, and the stigma of mental illness. The committee recommends that the State avoid the co-location of such facilities in the future, since the mentally ill and the criminal populations are devalued and stigmatized. The committee also recommends that the Department of Mental Health develop a plan to reduce the stigma of mental illness. The committee concludes that the proposed correctional facility can be so sited, designed, and constructed as to reduce its impact on the stigmatization of the mentally ill. The correctional facility should be distinguished from the hospital in both appearance and its public image. The correctional facility should be designed to minimize its visual impact, and its operations should emphasize separateness from the hospital. Careful planning and coordination should ensure that the hospital and the correctional center do not compete for resources affecting the quality of their services. Steps should be taken to compensate the hospital or the State's mental health program for any loss of land use. Appended study details