Wilson Expected to Propose Closing Camarillo Hospital

SACRAMENTO —  Gov. Pete Wilson will formally propose this week that the 60-year-old Camarillo State Hospital and Developmental Center be shut down in the coming year, The Times has learned.

Wilson will make the recommendation, a move with far-reaching implications for the treatment of the developmentally disabled in California, as part of a 1996-97 budget proposal to be presented to the Legislature on Wednesday, sources in his administration said.

Although the Legislature still must act on the proposal, the governor’s recommendation is expected to carry great weight with lawmakers and is a near-fatal blow to local officials who have been fighting to keep open the facility and maintain its 1,500 jobs.

Wilson’s proposal is backed by a Department of Developmental Services study issued in December which found that it was no longer feasible for the state to keep the Camarillo facility open because of its declining population of developmentally disabled and mentally ill residents.

Camarillo now serves fewer than 900 patients, down from 1,200 five years ago and as many as 7,000 in the 1960s. Of that number, 492 are developmentally disabled patients and 385 suffer from mental illnesses.

As its population continues to decline, officials predicted the costs for caring for individual developmentally disabled residents would soar from $106,322 in 1995 to an estimated $152,670 in 1999, making Camarillo the most expensive developmental center in the state.

“We quickly came to the conclusion that we either waste a lot of money or continue to consolidate,” said Rob Schladale, assistant secretary of the Health and Welfare Agency. “The population has declined to such a point that we needed to do something.”

Camarillo is one of the few facilities in the state which houses both mentally ill and developmentally disabled residents. Although the state’s Department of Mental Health has not formally released its study yet, it is also expected to recommend its closure.

The existence of facilities like Camarillo represents the philosophy of an earlier age when mentally ill and mentally retarded citizens were housed in huge state hospitals and often isolated from families and local communities.

In the last decade there has been a strong movement toward more community based care. As local and regional centers have flourished, populations at the state hospitals and developmental centers have dwindled.

But among advocates and the families of the mentally retarded and mentally ill, the movement has created a philosophical split. Some strongly support a community based system and others maintain that for some patients, especially those with severe multiple problems, the state hospital is the best answer.

The Wilson administration has generally sided with advocates for community care, although Schladale said each case will be decided individually after consultation with families. Some residents of Camarillo would be moved to other state centers, he said, while others would be sent to community based facilities. He estimated the phase out would take about a year.

If the Legislature approves the closing of Camarillo, it will be the second developmental center to close its doors in recent years. The Stockton Developmental Center is currently being phased out and the department is reportedly also considering the closure of Agnews Developmental Center in San Jose in 1997-98.

As word of the possible closure filtered down to local officials Monday, city leaders in Camarillo plotted a last-ditch strategy to keep the facility float.

A City Council subcommittee recommended that the full panel lobby state legislators to keep the facility open or at least prevent what they fear might happen--an eventual conversion to a corrections facility that would house violent inmates and sex offenders.

With hundreds of jobs and an annual payroll of over $80 million at stake, city officials said they could not afford to stand idle while Sacramento’s lawmakers decided the institution’s future.

But neither did they want the eventual solution to be one that would bring more prisoners into their community.

“A prison is a different kind of neighbor,” said Councilman Mike Morgan. “People are worried about escapes.”

Councilwoman Charlotte Craven lived near a federal prison in Texas for years, and was never comfortable with the notion. Camarillo already houses its share of criminals at the nearby California Youth Authority, she said.

“Every juvenile female convict in prison is here, and some of the most hardened juvenile males,” Craven said. “We’re already dealing with that.”

She also worried that prison officials might start jailing violent criminals in Camarillo before all of the necessary security improvements are made.

Meanwhile, state corrections officials say they are interested in taking over the sprawling campus if it is abandoned by health officials. But prison officials said they have not yet decided whether spending the money to beef up security at Camarillo State is worth the investment.

“We have had discussions with the Department of Mental Health” about acquiring Camarillo State, said Tipton Kindel, a spokesman with the state Department of Corrections.

“We are interested, but it’s not been offered to us,” he said. “We’re working with the Department of Mental Health.”

Local officials however were able to count one state official as their ally. Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard) said he would do whatever he could to help spare Camarillo State from budget cuts.

“I will be vigorously supporting keeping Camarillo State open,” he said. “I’ve seen the good work that goes on there, and it would be a shame to have to close that up.”

If changes need to be made to cut costs, then mentally ill patients should be moved elsewhere and treatment of developmentally disabled clients at Camarillo State should be expanded, Takasugi said.

Staff writer Virginia Ellis reported from Sacramento. Correspondent Jeff McDonald reported from Camarillo.