Judge: AMHI consent decree terms unmet

AUGUSTA – The state has failed to comply with numerous requirements of a 12-year-old court order to improve services for patients at the Augusta Mental Health Institute, a Superior Court judge said.

In a 354-page decision issued Friday, Superior Court Chief Justice Nancy Mills said state officials not only failed to meet the terms of an AMHI consent decree but should have acknowledged their failure.

“This is not a failure of funding. The evidence made clear that until the recent budgetary problems, money for consent decree purposes was consistently provided by the Legislature. This is a failure of management to get the job done,” Mills wrote.

State officials signed the consent decree in 1990 to settle a class-action lawsuit complaining of deteriorating and dangerous conditions at the state psychiatric hospital.

The state has been held in contempt of court twice by two different judges for missing deadlines to make improvements in the mental health system.