Supervisors Oppose Closure of Camarillo State

Ventura County supervisors on Tuesday finally took a unified stand on the fate of Camarillo State Hospital, endorsing the concept of keeping it open as a mental health facility.

Although the Board of Supervisors cannot control what will happen to the aging hospital, the unanimous declaration is designed to influence state officials who will determine the institution’s future.

“If we don’t do this, we’re going to continue to be kind of divided,” said Supervisor John K. Flynn, who proposed the concept approved Tuesday after numerous alternatives began circulating around the community.

“The final authority is not with this board,” Flynn added. “But we need to assert some leadership.”

Endorsement of the policy came after scores of hospital workers and advocates for the mentally ill crowded the chamber to ask supervisors to publicly support the institution, its 1,500 employees and its $80-million annual payroll.

With bright yellow badges pinned to their chests, workers and labor union officials pleaded with the board to rally around Camarillo State and to support the prospect of bringing in mentally ill criminals to beef up the patient load.

Though employees and supervisors generally agreed about the course for saving the hospital, they tiptoed around the crucial question of whether the county should accept so-called sexually violent predators among the patient load.

The board approved the policy, proposed by Flynn late last week, in concept only. The policy calls for endorsing a state plan to expand the number of mentally ill criminals being treated at Camarillo State, but specifically excludes sexually violent predators.

A formal vote on the specifics of the policy was delayed until a county task force made up of families, workers and others reports to the board later this month.

Labor union representatives, and even state hospital officials, told the supervisors that treating sex offenders and other convicts at Camarillo State is both crucial to the facility’s survival and already a common practice.

Camarillo State Executive Director David Freehauf said more than 260 of the hospital’s 878 patients were ordered to his facility by California judges.

Jon DeMorales, the director at Atascadero State Hospital in San Luis Obispo County, said therapists are “generally going to find the same characteristics among patients” whether ordered to the hospital by a court or not.

The president of the local chapter of the psychiatric technicians’ union blamed the term sexually violent predators for inciting fear among some Camarillo officials and residents.

“It’s a very bad label that people have to overcome,” said Brian Bowley, who said most sex offenders at the hospital would be twice-convicted felons facing 25 years in prison if they misbehave.

“If we do our jobs correctly . . . we can alleviate any fears you may have,” said Bowley of the California Assn. of Psychiatric Technicians.

But Moorpark resident Lita Biejo, who represents a group calling itself Families and Advocates for the Mentally Ill, said her constituents do not want to see sex offenders moved to Camarillo State.

“If these people are here, it means their friends will be coming here,” Biejo told supervisors. “People who are like them will be coming here.”

Flynn and other board members downplayed the seemingly wide difference of opinion regarding whether to allow sex offenders at Camarillo State.

When pressed after the vote Tuesday about whether he would withdraw the condition in his plan that calls for sexually violent predators to be excluded, Flynn said: “I’ve got to think about that.”

Supervisor Susan K. Lacey, who up until Tuesday declined to discuss the issue, said she would rely on task force consensus before making a decision about sex offenders.

“I think we can have a calm and reasoned discussion,” she said. “Hopefully, at the end, a majority will come to an agreement.”

Supervisor Maggie Kildee, who represents the district where the hospital is located, asked that potential security improvements be spelled out in more detail.

Kildee also requested a review of hospital operations to find out where to cut costs.

Union President Bowley said he thinks the majority of Ventura County residents do not fear the idea of more sex offenders being treated at Camarillo State.

He said more than 4,000 people have signed petitions over the past five days in support of expanding the number of patients--including sex offenders--at the hospital.

“Nine out of 10 people have no problem with it,” he said. “We have a task in front of us, and that task is to educate the board.”

Gov. Pete Wilson last month recommended that the 60-year-old state institution be closed because per-patient treatment costs have soared to more than $100,000.

Since then, local officials and hospital workers have proposed a number of uses for the sprawling state hospital grounds, including a veteran’s home, a state university, a juvenile hall and a joint county-state mental hospital.

State mental health Director Stephen Mayberg, however, has said that Camarillo State could remain open if more sex offenders or other mentally ill criminals are moved in.

Robert Castro--a psychiatric technician heading up a group calling itself People Uniting to Save our Hospital, or PUSH--said many of the workers would simply leave the area if the hospital closes. That would cost the local economy tens of millions of dollars, he said.

“This is my home,” Castro told supervisors. “Although I would not like to move, I will move to support my family.”