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Mississippi plans to appeal mental health ruling to federal appeals court

Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal - 9/27/2021

Sep. 27—TUPELO — The Mississippi Attorney General's Office will appeal a ruling from a federal court that required the state to bring its beleaguered mental health care system into compliance with federal civil rights law. The appeal will likely extend the half-decade old litigation for at least months.

Outside attorneys representing the state filed a motion in federal court on Monday, asking U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves to stay his order he issued earlier this month that ruled against the state and sided with the Department of Justice.

"Mississippi plans to timely file a notice of appeal seeking appropriate appellate relief, and to ask the Fifth Circuit to expedite the appeal," the motion reads.

The request from the state is not entirely surprising since the state indicated at various points throughout the litigation that it intended to appeal if Reeves put an external monitor in place to oversee the mental health system's compliance with the federal civil rights laws.

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch previously told the Daily Journal in Tupelo that her office would consider an appeal to a higher court if it viewed Reeves' ruling as too onerous.

The federal government began investigating the state's mental health system 10 years ago and concluded that Mississippi was unnecessarily segregating people with mental health into state-run hospitals for lengthy periods.

The state initially attempted to enter into a mediation process with the federal government, but that process eventually fell apart. The justice department then sued the state in 2016.

Judge Reeves ruled in September 2019 that Mississippi violated the federal Americans with Disabilities Act by having inadequate resources in Mississippi communities to treat people with mental illnesses — a violation of their civil rights.

Several weeks ago, after repeated wrangling between the state and federal government, Reeves then issued a final ruling that named an external monitor over the state's mental health system.

taylor.vance@djournal.com

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