Norristown State Hospital 'Prime Development Property': Council

NORRISTOWN, PA — The president of the Municipal Council called Norristown State Hospital's 200 acres "prime development property" in a statement on Thursday, even as construction continues for additional patient housing mandated after an ACLU lawsuit.

Acting Department of Human Services secretary Teresa Miller held a public meeting about the future of the hospital and the community on Wednesday. According to DHS, the hospital will miss their Dec. 15 deadline to create room for 50 new patients, and a new deadline of Jan. 5 has been set.

In a settlement with ACLU in June, the state agreed to create the 110 new spots, including 50 at Norristown, after the civil rights organization alleged that individuals with severe mental illness had "languished" for extensive periods of time in jail cells when they should have been receiving care.

“Fixing broken governmental institutions is hard, but we sincerely hope that this new court order will decrease Pennsylvania wait times to a constitutional level, which should be about one week,” Witold Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said at the time.

DHS says that due to the settlement, the state faces millions in fines if it does not provide the needed space in a timely manner.

Meanwhile, the future of the hospital as a whole remains, as ever, up in the air.

Norristown Council President Sonya Sanders made clear her desire that the hospital be redeveloped. The hospital's civil unit began the process of shutting down this January. The move was aimed at "helping more people live in the community," according to Secretary Ted Dallas. While there had been no direct rumors about the closure leading up to the announcement earlier this year, the Wolf administration has repeatedly stated a focus on helping individuals with disabilities reduce reliance on institutional care.

The state has previously proposed to shut the hospital down completely, leaving the door open for redevelopment, by 2022.

"(Redevelopment) has been a municipal priority for decades and we are greatly encouraged by the recent movement of Governor Wolf’s administration toward that goal," Sanders said on Thursday. She did add that she understands the need for the state to add beds now, although it's "not ideal for our community."

"It is easily evident that Norristown does more than its fair share in the housing of social services and government agencies in our town," she said.

Image via Pennsylvania Department of Human Services