Actually, it was under Governor Reagan that the institutions closed in CA (1975) - to balance the budget.
““How the Federal Government Destroyed the Mental Illness Treatment System”: That subtitle is the opening shot across the bow in this jeremiad of a book by the psychiatrist Dr. E. Fuller Torrey. It could just as well have read: “How a group of well-intentioned, starry-eyed idealists made a hash of mental health care.””
“Reform was well underway when President John F. Kennedy endorsed this new era in mental health in a 1963 speech, calling for a “bold new approach” in which “reliance on the cold mercy of custodial isolation will be supplanted by the open warmth of community concern and capability.””
“The last piece of legislation President John F. Kennedy signed turns 50 this month: the Community Mental Health Act, which helped transform the way people with mental illness are treated and cared for in the United States.”
No they were closed nationwide in a push to deinstitutionalize, lead by Californians like Szaz and others. It was felt that the civil rights of the mentally ill were being violated and that everything would be roses once the patient were on their meds in the communities. Outpatient treatment centers were to meet their medications and counseling needs and they would live independently.
This was foisted upon us by ignorant, leftist lawyers who had not a clue of what mentally ill people need or do.
What was that 1975 bill signed by governor Reagan?
When you find it, which state mental institutions did he close?