Jackson Free Press

Read the Letter (PDF)

Gov. Haley Barbour's recommendation for state agency heads to cut 15 percent of fiscal year 2011's budget will have devastating effects on the Mississippi Department of Mental Health and lead to the closure of several state facilities, Mississippi Department of Mental Health Director Ed LeGrand wrote in a Nov. 1 letter to the governor.

Last month, Barbour sent a letter to all state agencies requesting that they review operations and provide recommendations on the impact of a 15 percent cut below fiscal year 2011 operations. In 2009, Barbour proposed closing several mental health facilities and crisis centers, including the Central Mississippi Residential Center. 
Barbour said the state needed to move away from the institutional treatment.

"There are, obviously, many ways to absorb such a cut, but all of them are devastating to the public mental-health system," LeGrand wrote. "Before a cut of that magnitude occurs, I and the board of mental health would look to state policy makers to help in deciding what facilities and programs to eliminate. In plain words, what does Mississippi want the public mental-health system to look like due to the lack of revenues?"