Maine's adult mental health system ready to emerge from court oversight after 3 decades

AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine's adult mental care facilities are ready to emerge from court oversight after an appointed specialist concluded the state is now in “substantial compliance" with the latest standards set by a court legal decree.

An agreement called the “AMHI Consent Decree” was drafted in 1990 when conditions were so bad at the state’s Augusta Mental Health Institute that the courts stepped in and appointed a “special master” to work out the issues. The lawsuit was brought after a series of deaths in 1988 revealed significant shortcomings at AMHI, which closed in 2004. It was replaced by the Riverview Psychiatric Center.

Over the years, the appointee, former state Chief Justice Daniel Wathen, and his predecessors found that the state often fell short of standards in the consent decree as the state transitioned more patients from institutions to community-based care.

In his latest report last week, Wathen found that policies, practices and systems “reflect enduring improvements to the adult community mental health system, and supported by robust advocacy as currently in place, satisfy the system-based approach to substantial compliance.” He recommended that the state petition to end the court injunction.

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services plans to follow Wathen's recommendation in hopes of delivering a “long-awaited resolution to the consent decree,” said Commissioner Sara Gagné-Holmes.

“The department has been working hard to strengthen Maine’s adult community mental health system of care to ensure timely access to high quality services over the past six years, and we are pleased that our systemic improvements are making a difference," she said in a statement.