Plan to Transfer 150 More Mental Patients Draws Fire

The countdown has begun on a controversial plan to transfer nearly 150 more court-referred mental patients to Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk.

State officials issued a required 60-day notice on the move Thursday and scheduled a community forum early next month.

Opponents of the transfer, having argued unsuccessfully that the move poses a threat to residents around the hospital, said they plan to drill state officials on how long the patients would be housed.

“My concern is that a temporary situation is going to become permanent,” said Norwalk City Manager Ernie Garcia.

Elected officials from the area have condemned the plan to ship potentially dangerous patients from Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino during three years of renovations there.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Mental Health said there are no plans to return any patients once they are transferred to Metropolitan because of a growing number of mental patients being ruled incompetent to stand trial. But she added that it usually takes no more than nine months of treatment before they are deemed ready for court.

Despite assurances that only patients with the lowest risk will be permitted, neighbors of the hospital have made it clear during several meetings and protests that security remains their biggest concern.

Residents say they are not satisfied with $5 million in new fencing and security guards that will accompany the transfers, as approved by the state Legislature in June. They cite instances where Metropolitan patients have walked off the complex before being retrieved by hospital staff several hours later.

The state began transferring patients from Patton in December, and nearly 90 of Metropolitan’s 574 patients are judicially committed. No more than 227 such patients are allowed in this fiscal year under the plan.

Community members can discuss the plan with state officials Sept. 7 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Norwalk Marriott Hotel, 13111 Sycamore Drive.