State says it will keep 25 mental health beds at Choate, expand regional jobs

The Illinois Department of Human Services has scaled back its plans to close 75 minimum-security mental health beds at Choate Developmental Center in Anna, opting to keep 25 beds open while phasing out the remaining 50 by July 2027.

The department says it also plans to reopen about 200 beds at three other state-run psychiatric hospitals in Alton and Chester in southern Illinois and Hines in the Chicago suburbs.

On Oct. 15, IDHS withdrew its application before the Health Facilities and Services Review Board to shut down all 75 mental health beds at Choate, though its general intellectual and developmental disabilities wing will still be decommissioned. The hospital’s 40 court-ordered, forensic intellectual and developmental disability — or, I/DD — beds will remain. Choate will still lose around 250 positions, but IDHS says that the state is bringing 410 human services jobs to southern Illinois, including 87 at Choate, and intends to offer new jobs to all qualifying affected employees.

Choate currently houses 52 patients and maintains three different mental health programs. An IDHS spokesperson wrote in an Oct. 22 email to the Daily Egyptian that the facility’s general I/DD program currently serves 11 individuals who will be moved to “community-based, family, or other State operated residential settings,” which is consistent with plans Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration announced for the facility in 2023.

An Aug. 25 IDHS infographic indicated the program has decreased by four since August.

Springfield says restructuring is ultimately better for patients

“IDHS is committed to the safety and well-being of people with mental illness and intellectual and developmental disabilities in Illinois, especially those in our direct care,” the spokesperson wrote in its statement to the Daily Egyptian.

The department also pointed to a Chicago Tribune op-ed discussing the social segregation that institutional mental patients face and how advocacy groups Arc of Illinois, Access Living and Equip for Equality endorsed the Choate restructuring.

Choate’s 40-bed forensic developmental disabilities program will remain open, also consistent with the state’s 2023 plan, IDHS said. Individuals in the forensic program are typically placed in the department’s custody by a court, either because they were deemed unfit to stand trial or found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Pritzker, a Chicago Democrat, has defended the decision to downsize Choate, citing longstanding issues with the facility and greater mental health needs in other areas. A 2023 report from ProPublica and Capitol News Illinois documented cover-ups of abuse and a culture of cruelty among staff.

For instance, reporters found a Choate patient had been forced to dig through their own feces to search for harmful swallowed objects, a terminally ill patient had been neglected before his death and that Choate staff had not just broken a patient’s arm but bragged about not being caught. Pritzker had called for reform and previously expressed a desire to keep Choate open.

“IDHS’ effort to improve mental health care and expand community-based care for people with disabilities requires more direct care workers statewide. New State positions are being added in the locations where they are needed most,” IDHS said.

The state initially announced its plan to downsize Choate in March 2023, but plans have evolved since. The October announcement comes amid strong backlash from unions, the public and local legislators, including Republican state Sens. Terri Bryant of Murphysboro and Paul Jacobs of Pomona.

IDHS said in its statement that in addition to keeping 25 beds open at Choate, the department plans to add about 200 beds at three other state-run psychiatric hospitals — 100 in Alton, 56 in Chester and 44 in Hines’ Madden Mental Health.

IDHS’ July proposal included laying off half of Choate’s staff — around 250 people — and drew strong rebukes from labor unions, city and county officials and lawmakers. IDHS says that anyone who loses a job at Choate will be offered one within the system as the state is bringing 410 new jobs at psychiatric hospitals throughout the southern half of Illinois. According to IDHS, Choate will add 87 jobs, Chester Mental Health Center will add 104, Murray Developmental Center will add 113 and Alton Mental Health Center will add 106.

“New roles at Chester Mental Health Center and Alton Mental Health Center will create new opportunities for staff at Choate, in addition to those at other state agencies, throughout the state, including in southern Illinois,” IDHS wrote.

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, the union representing most Choate workers, filed a lawsuit alongside Union County State’s Attorney Tyler Tripp and AFSCME Local 141 President Tina Winfield over the downsizing in September, naming Pritzker, the state of Illinois, IDHS and IDHS Secretary Dulce Quintero as defendants. The lawsuit alleged the defendants violated three state laws — the Health Facilities Planning Act, the Illinois State Facilities Closure Act and the Mental Health Inpatient Facility Access Act. The AFSCME-led lawsuit was the second filed, joining a suit filed in Union County over similar concerns.

AFSCME also accused the state of backtracking on previous assurances to state and union representatives. The state of Illinois falsely assured state and union representatives that the IDHS budget for the current fiscal year didn’t “contemplate any layoffs,” AFSCME’s lawsuit alleges. Tripp also filed a lawsuit in Union County Circuit Court with Sheriff David Wilkins and Justin Emrick, the guardian of a Choate resident.

Tripp’s lawsuit makes similar, broader claims to AFSCME’s, but alleges criminal defendants awaiting state psychiatric or developmental disabilities forensic placement have often waited in county jails for weeks and that downsizing Choate would worsen pre-existing backlogs. Tripp’s lawsuit had been moved from Union County to federal U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, but an Order of Remand back to Union County was signed on Sept. 29, court documents show.

Those cases are pending.

Legality of Choate downsizing questioned 

In a joint Oct. 15 news release, Bryant and Jacobs voiced their appreciation of the retention of 25 of Choate’s psychiatric beds, but said the decision is “wholly inadequate” to meeting southern Illinois’ mental health needs. The state senators wrote that IDHS rejected SIU School of Medicine’s recommendation to expand psychiatric services and shortchanged Choate’s employees.

Bryant told the Daily Egyptian she believes IDHS backtracked on its plans to close all 75 psychiatric beds because the department didn’t realize it needed to apply to the Health Facilities and Services Review Board to remove psychiatric services in the first place.

“It is my belief they are trying to strengthen their case in the lawsuits filed by State’s Attorney Tripp and AFSCME because they are illegally reducing beds at a hospital,” Bryant said, a sentiment that Jacobs echoed.

IDHS denied this was the case.

“As stated previously, IDHS is maintaining 25 mental health beds at Choate due to the current regional needs as well as unforeseen infrastructure needs related to the build out of additional system beds,” the agency said. “The decision was not based on going before the Health Facilities & Services Review Board. IDHS had already made a submission before the Board prior to modifying its original plan.”

The HFSRB’s web records show that while IDHS applied for a permit to remove Choate psychiatric beds on Sept. 25, but that permit was withdrawn on Oct. 15.

This story was produced by the Daily Egyptian in partnership with Southern Illinois Source, the Illinois Press Foundation’s nonprofit news collaborative serving the bottom third of the state.

Mack Biesk, an SIU class of 2030 pre-law student, is a reporter for the Daily Egyptian and covers southern Illinois political issues, crime and courts. Reach him via email at mbiesk@dailyegyptian.com and on Instagram @mackbiesk34.