By Sarah Ladd
Kentucky Lantern
The U.S. Department of Justice says it has “reasonable cause” to believe Kentucky is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act in Jefferson County.
This finding comes after a two-year federal investigation “focused on whether Kentucky subjects adults with serious mental illness to unnecessary segregation in psychiatric hospitals in Louisville.”
In a 30-page report Tuesday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) found Kentucky doesn’t adequately treat Louisvillians with serious mental health issues in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), enacted by Congress in 1990 to protect people with disabilities from discrimination.
Jefferson County, the report says, relies too heavily on psychiatric hospitalizations, police and detention that could be avoided with community-based mental health services, which it also does not adequately connect people with following hospitalization.
Key points in the report include:
- In 2022, 16% of people admitted to psychiatric hospitals in Louisville were also sent to jail.
- In 2022, 1,100 people were admitted more than once to a psychiatric hospital.
- More than 500 had three or more such hospital admissions.
- Thousands of others are admitted once.