Judge names overseer of housing for mentally ill

CHICAGO — A federal judge appointed an Indiana University administrator to oversee a sweeping transition in housing choices for mentally ill people in Illinois, after first saying he was concerned that the man was too busy.

U.S. District Court Judge William Hart named Dennis Jones on Wednesday in Chicago to monitor the five-year transition. Jones' job will be to ensure approximately 4,300 Medicaid recipients living in large institutions are given the chance to move into smaller homes.

The agreement settles claims that Illinois violates the civil rights of the mentally ill by needlessly segregating them in specialized nursing homes, called institutions for mental disease. Illinois has 25 such facilities — in Chicago, Decatur and Peoria.

Both sides in a class-action lawsuit — the state of Illinois and plaintiffs represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois — had recommended Jones in a motion filed last week in federal court in Chicago. He was an expert witness in the case.

Jones is a court-appointed monitor in a similar case in Washington, D.C. He also directs a division in Indiana University's Department of Psychiatry and acts as a consultant for hospitals, mental health centers and the state of Indiana, according to his resume.

"Do you have enough time to do this, Mr. Jones?" the judge asked in court. "This is a big project."

Jones said he had made arrangements to devote two days a week for the first several months to help the sides work out a detailed implementation plan.

"This will go to the top of my priority list," Jones told the judge. "I will make the time to do this and do it well."

After the hearing, ACLU attorney Ben Wolf said the four named plaintiffs in the case are likely to be the first residents to be evaluated and helped to move into apartments or group homes.

No one will be forced to leave institutional care, although some facilities may be forced to close for financial reasons if enough residents choose to leave.

Last month, family members of people with mental illness testified that they feared their loved ones would end up in jail or homeless if they left the institutions. But Jones and other experts said most residents would be successful with state-provided support services, such as help learning to cook, shop and manage their medications.

The settlement guarantees such support.