Gov. Mark Dayton
A legislative auditor’s report finds hundreds of Minnesotans with mental illness are being kept in county jails — in some cases, illegally — because of a severe shortage of psychiatric services. Governor Mark Dayton says “we have a crisis in our whole mental health system, starting with those who are in jails.” The governor says some people could receive better therapy outside the state-run Anoka Regional Treatment Center, but there’s not capacity to move them elsewhere. Dayton says he’ll have recommendations for the legislature which will be expensive, but argues it’s money “we absolutely have to spend.”