Transfer of Mental Patients Draws Protest

Officials from three cities joined nearly 100 protesters Friday afternoon in denouncing a plan to temporarily transfer more than 200 judicially committed mental patients to Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk.

Hoisting placards and chanting slogans, residents gathered in front of the hospital on the 11400 block of South Norwalk Boulevard to oppose what they consider a safety threat.

Protesters ignored assurances from hospital administrators that patients transferred from Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino during three years of renovations there would be carefully screened to keep out those who have been charged with sexual assault or murder. Residents and elected officials said they were skeptical of the plan because they were not told until months afterward that almost 70 patients were transferred from Patton in September.

Hospital officials have tried at two community meetings to reassure their neighbors by offering tours of the facility. They also explained that the plan is contingent upon allocations in Gov. Pete Wilson’s budget that would pay for a new 16-foot-high fence and 34 more security officers at the hospital.

“What happens in the meantime?” asked Norwalk resident Connie Cortez, who has lived adjacent to the hospital for 15 years. “We need protection.”

At a news conference, elected officials from Norwalk, Santa Fe Springs and La Mirada presented a united front against the plan, as did representatives of two school districts with five schools within a mile of the hospital. They suggested that the patients be transferred elsewhere.