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Failure to Correct Mental Health System Puts Michigan's Most Vulnerable at Risk FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 18, 2007 Contact: Tom Masseau (517) 487-1755 (517) 648-0029 (cell) It could have happened in any jail in Michigan. An inmate shows signs of psychiatric distress, requests mental health services, fails to receive services, and commits suicide alone in his jail cell. The fact that this actually occurred is disturbing. Equally disturbing, however, is that individuals in county jails throughout Michigan are at risk of a similar fate due to serious flaws in the delivery of mental health services and the failure of the internal Recipient Rights System to correct such flaws. Today, Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service (MPAS) issues a report entitled, Navigating the Mental Health Maze in Michigan: Why the Recipient Rights System is Broken and How We Can Fix It. The report documents how the failure to provide mental health services contributed to the death of an inmate in a Michigan County jail. Subsequent attempts to address that failure through the Recipient Rights System provides a case study which reveals the system’s flaws. It clearly illustrates that the system intended to protect the rights of mental health consumers is defective and in need of legislative corrections. In 2005 the Mental Health Commission released a report which recommended amending the Mental Health Code to strengthen accountability, but to date there has been little action at the state level. Many of the recommendations coming out of the MPAS report, including giving the state Office of Recipient Rights sanction authority when a local Community Mental Health Service Provider is out of compliance with recipient rights requirements, align with those made by the Mental Health Commission. “Perhaps this report will help move the commission recommendations forward,” says Elmer L. Cerano, executive director of MPAS. “In addition, we call upon the Governor and Legislature to take all necessary steps to ensure a Recipient Rights system that is efficient and protects the rights of people with disabilities.” For a full copy of the report, please contact MPAS at 517.487.1755. [Read Executive Summary] ### Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service, Inc. (MPAS) is the independent, private, nonprofit organization designated by the Governor of the State of Michigan to implement the federally mandated Protection and Advocacy system for people with disabilities in Michigan. MPAS services include information and referral, short-term assistance, selected individual and legal representation, systemic advocacy monitoring, and training.

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