A doctor has testified in federal court that Illinois is lagging behind in improving conditions for hundreds of mentally ill prison inmates.
Dr. Raymond Patterson is in charge of tracking the state’s compliance with a May 2013 order that resulted from a lawsuit filed by several mentally ill inmates. Among the most troubling issues that he says remain to be addressed is the housing of 600 seriously mentally ill inmates in segregation at several prisons.
Judge Michael Mihm also questioned why the state has not been able to fill two jobs in the mental health program.