Maine is still sending psych patients to controversial South Carolina hospital despite complaints (2024)

Justin Butterfield was supposed to see his kids later this month.

Butterfield, 35, has schizophrenia and according to his family, part of his treatment includes medication and regular contact with his two children.

“His kids are incredibly important,” said Yaicha Provencher, the mother of his children. “That’s kind of what keeps him grounded.”

He had been getting that treatment at Riverview Psychiatric Center since February after he was found not criminally responsible for killing his brother during a mental health crisis. Like dozens of others in Maine with similar verdicts, Butterfield is in the state’s care until they believe he’s no longer a harm to himself or others.

But on Tuesday, Provencher learned Butterfield had been transferred to Columbia Regional Care Center, a for-profit facility more than a thousand miles away in South Carolina.

She was shocked when the Riverview superintendent said that Butterfield was sent away because staff believed he was threatening them and refusing to take his medication.

Provencher and the kids had just seen Butterfield over Zoom less than 24 hours earlier, she said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Now, she is unsure how she will talk to Butterfield and what information she will be given about his treatment. Even worse, she’s scared his condition will worsen without access to his children, whom he calls every night and has only seen twice this summer.

Riverview has declined to discuss Butterfield’s case, but a spokesperson previously said they reserve use of the South Carolina facility for patients who “have demonstrated a high level of violence” or assaulted staff and other patients.

Provencher, however, said that Butterfield didn’t attack anyone. Others are concerned this could set a troubling precedent.

John Nutting, a former state senator who said he is a member of Riverview’s human rights committee, said in a phone interview Friday that he “has never seen a single case prior to this where somebody is quickly taken to South Carolina without having actually hurt somebody.”

“This is unusual in so many regards,” he said.

CONTRACT RENEWAL

Butterfield is one of roughly a dozen Maine men who have been sent to the South Carolina facility in the last decade. Since 2015, the state has spent millions of dollars on the yearly contracts.

Residents, their families, lawyers and other advocates shared their concerns about the facility with the Press Herald in June, likening Columbia Regional Care Center to a prison.

Because Columbia doesn’t use federal Medicare or Medicaid funding, they’re able to employ corrections officers, physical restraint and isolation – all prison-like tactics that Riverview was criticized for using 10 years ago. Some also were concerned that two Maine men have died while at Columbia: Anthony Reed in December and James Staples in 2018.

Despite these concerns, Riverview is still sending patients to Columbia and the state is in the process of renewing its contract with the facility.

AMaine Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson, Lindsay Hammes, said she could not provide a copy of the new contract because they are still finalizing it, but it will be retroactive to July 1.

Hammes said DHHS “always considers the best interests of those we serve in making contract decisions” and has “been in communication with Columbia Regional Care Center to ensure our standards are met.”

The last agreement, which expired June 30, cost the state nearly $1.3 million to reserve six beds. Some experts in mental health treatment have questioned if that money is being spent appropriately.

Hannah Longley, the clinical director of advocacy and crisis for the Maine chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said the state continues to suffer a “serious deficit” in local mental health treatment options.

“We want to build a robust, proactive mental health system here, so we don’t have to send any of our neighbors out of state,” Longley said.

She pointed to a shortage of crisis workers and providers, including psychiatrists, that is particularly extremein rural areas.

Butterfield is from Poland, a rural area outside of Lewistonwhere Provencher has previously said she felt her concerns about his paranoia and hallucinations went unheard and unaddressed years before he was charged with murder.

Nutting and Provencher also are members of the Maine chapter of the National Shattering Silence Coalition, a group focused on advancing policies to help those with serious brain disorders, like schizophrenia.

Both have spoken out about Butterfield’s case and how Maine’s sprawling mental health resources failedto help him before it was too late.

She said at a news conference in December 2022 that Butterfield was hospitalized eight times in a three-year span and once burned down a building where he thought children were being tortured and led police on a high speed chase, according to reporting by the Sun Journal.

‘SUPPOSEDLY VIOLENT’

On Friday, Provencher said she was briefly able to speak with Butterfield for this first time since his transfer. He told her Riverview switched his antipsychotic medications, and that he was only refusing to take the drugs because he wants to go back to his original medication.

“(Butterfield) really felt that he wasn’t taking the medication (they) prescribed him because it wasn’t working,” Provencher said.

“And to be fair,” she added, “I was able to carry on a very in-depth, intelligent conversation with him. For somebody who’s supposedly violent and not taking their meds, and supposedly so violent that he couldn’t stay at Riverview … that just didn’t jump out at me.”

Provencher said she spoke with Riverview Superintendent Stephanie George-Roy twice this week, who confirmed to her that Butterfield hadn’t hurt anyone.

George-Roy did not respond to a voicemail Friday asking to discuss Butterfield’s case and why he was sent to South Carolina. Hammes said DHHS can’t discuss individual patients, citing confidentiality laws.

Provencher said she’s asked George-Roy why Riverview hasn’t started the process to get a court order for Butterfield’s treatment plan, requiring Butterfield to take his medication.

Nutting also was confused why Riverview hadn’t initiated that process. He said in his experience, it’s unusual Riverview would send a patient out of state before doing that.

Provencher said she’s also talked to a social worker at Columbia, who said Butterfield is allowed one free phone call a week. She said Riverview has offered to help pay Columbia so she and her kids can call Butterfield more.

Butterfield has only been there for a few days, she said, but he’s only been allowed to leave his room a few times. He also told her there were co*ckroachesin his room.

NOT THE SAME PROTECTIONS

Kevin Voyvodich, an attorney at Disability Rights Maine, said the organization is concerned about the rights of patients sent out of state.

He declined to speak about any cases individually, including Butterfield’s, instead pointing broadly to a lack of due process rights for patients who risk being sent out of state.

Riverview legally has to notify a judge, but otherwise the facility is allowed to make the decision on its own. There areno rules on how long someone can spend in South Carolina and when they can come back.It’s up to DHHS to decide what’s an “appropriate placement.”

Voyvodich said he is concerned by having Maine patients in a facility that’s governed by a different state’s laws.

“People don’t have the same protections they would, if they were in state,” he said.