Flynn Offers Plan to Keep State Hospital in Operation

Hoping to forge a consensus among Ventura County’s elected officials, Supervisor John K. Flynn unveiled a proposal Wednesday to stave off Gov. Pete Wilson’s call to close the aging state hospital in Camarillo.

Flynn will ask his board colleagues Tuesday to approve a policy that concludes the only reasonable way to keep Camarillo State Hospital open is to maintain it as a state-run mental-health facility by bringing in more mentally ill criminals.

“I don’t see how anyone could reject it,” he said. “It keeps the hospital open as a hospital, not as a prison.”

But Flynn said he would only support bringing in court-ordered patients if adequate security measures are installed and no sexually violent prisoners are moved in.

“In order to keep the hospital open, more patients must be admitted,” Flynn said. “The number can come from the forensic population because this is where the need is and the resources to pay for care exist.”

In his letter to the board, Flynn took exception to calling some patients at Camarillo State Hospital “criminals.” Although many are convicted felons, Flynn called the label misleading.

“All acute and mentally ill people are capable of committing crimes until their treatment takes effect,” he said.

Flynn proposes a 10-point plan that includes educating the public that forensic patients are no different from current hospital clients and praying for the residents and employees of the hospital.

Also included is a recommendation to reduce costs by exploring the possibility of moving county programs to the hospital grounds. “We could use some vacant acres to build a facility of some kind, or use facilities that aren’t used to their maximum,” Flynn said.

Based on initial reaction from all but one of the other four supervisors, the policy stands a good chance of being adopted.

Despite competing proposals of their own, both Supervisor Judy Mikels and board Chairman Frank Schillo said Wednesday they could support Flynn’s plan. Supervisor Maggie Kildee, whose district includes the hospital, said the policy is worth considering as long as the most dangerous patients are not moved in.

“I would like to know what kind of reassurances we can get about the level of forensic patients. I’d like to see Camarillo be the minimum security,” she said.

Supervisor Susan K. Lacey failed to return phone calls Wednesday.

Mikels wants to see the county juvenile hall moved to Camarillo State Hospital, while Schillo prefers a mental-health hospital run jointly by the state and Ventura County.

“We’ve got five supervisors and five different ideas,” Schillo said. “We’ve really got to get our act together. Maybe this will focus our attention on what could be done.”

Mikels, who just this week floated the idea of moving the county juvenile hall to Camarillo State Hospital, conceded that adding more mentally ill criminals would make the hospital more cost-effective.

“The forensic patients and the severely mentally ill have been there for years and years, and there has not been a history of trouble,” she said. “It’s not hysteria time. It’s time to think calmly and rationally, and preserve that facility out there.”

The governor last month singled out Camarillo State Hospital for closure by July 1997 because the per-patient cost is too high. He recommended that its patients be moved to other state facilities and community group homes.

Flynn and other local officials have launched lobbying campaigns to save the 1,500 jobs and $80 million in annual payroll that could disappear from the Ventura County economy if the 60-year-old institution closes.

Suggestions on how to keep the facility open have even included converting it to a university. And prison officials say they are interested in the 750-acre campus for possible use as a correctional facility.

Stephen Mayberg, state mental health director, said the hospital could remain open if it began housing more forensic patients--people who have been ordered to state institutions by California courts.

Mayberg said he would only pursue that proposal if the community endorses the plan.

So far, local leaders have been unable to agree on whether that alternative is a good idea. Hospital employees, however, are rallying behind efforts to save their jobs by bringing in more patients.

Camarillo City Council members Charlotte Craven and Mike Morgan both oppose adding potentially violent criminals because they fear for the safety of community residents. Thousand Oaks Mayor Andy Fox also opposes that plan.

They all support the university alternative, though one Cal State official called that prospect a longshot.

Nonetheless, Craven said Wednesday she cannot support Flynn’s effort to unify Ventura County on what should happen with the hospital.

“I don’t buy it,” she said, complaining that going the forensic route would lead to the hospital becoming a prison for the most dangerous elements of society.

“Once the state gets its foot in the door by expanding the [number of] forensic patients, it’s gone,” Craven said. “It escalates.”