CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge has appointed an Indiana
University administrator to oversee a sweeping transition in housing choices
for mentally ill people in Illinois.
U.S. District Court Judge William Hart named Dennis Jones 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.
Illinois has 25 such facilities — in Chicago, Decatur and Peoria.
Both sides in a class action lawsuit had recommended Jones in a motion filed last week in federal court in Chicago.
Jones is a court-appointed monitor in a similar case in Washington, D.C.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
