A southern Illinois state representative says he plans to "trust, but verify" the plans to transition patients out of the Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in Anna.
Representative Paul Jacobs of Pomona says he was glad to see Governor Pritzker incorporate some Republican recommendations into his plan to reorganize the state's developmental centers - including moving roughly half of Choate's patients to other facilities.
"They came up with a reasonable thing, that I think will be good, with the SIU Medical School - the Behavioral Science part of it - and they'll evaluate it over the next few years and see where it needs to go. It's very likely that we'll have increases in certain populations, and some decreases in some populations."
Jacobs says Governor JB Pritzker's transformation plan addresses some of the GOP concerns.
"We need to work together. We're going to trust what they say, but we're going to verify as we go along. It's just something that has to be verified - that nobody is getting moved that doesn't want to be moved. We're going to be involved in the questions and answers for the patients that are there - because you do have a right to choose where you want to live. We're going to make sure that's done correctly."
Jacobs says while some populations at Choate may decline in the next few years, others may increase. The facility currently houses patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as judicial holds - including people found not guilty by reason of insanity or others who may be a danger to themselves or other people.
