GOP gubernatorial candidate Aric Nesbitt says Michigan needs more state psychiatric hospitals
Sheriffs and prosecutors backing Nesbitt say jails have become de facto housing for mentally ill because of bed shortage
Michigan has fewer than 500 state psychiatric beds, a tenth of what advocates claim is needed
GRAND RAPIDS — Republican gubernatorial candidate Aric Nesbitt would push for Michigan to build more psychiatric hospitals as part of his anti-crime agenda, arguing local jails and law enforcement don’t have the resources to grapple with mentally ill Michiganders with nowhere else to go.
Nesbitt’s proposal was part of a larger pitch for a pro-law enforcement agenda that Nesbitt said would cut down on crime.
“Over the last 40 years, you’ve seen this deinstitutionalization that has increased crime, increased homelessness, and made things more difficult” for law enforcement, Nesbitt said at the roundtable.
FBI data shows violent crimes in Michigan have largely trended downward in recent years. Homelessness decreased 6% in the state in 2024 after two years of increased homelessness, according to state data. Violent crimes declined 11% from 2020 through 2024, according to state crime reporting data, while property crimes have remained largely flat.
Michigan has 497 state psychiatric hospital beds as of 2023, according to the nonprofit Treatment Advocacy Center. That equates to about five psychiatric beds per 100,000 residents — roughly one-tenth of what the center argues is needed for adequate care.
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Nesbitt, the current Senate minority leader, has received the endorsement of a number of county sheriffs who were on hand to offer support for his agenda rollout. They emphasized the need for more mental health facilities in the state, and said their county jails are bearing the burden of the state with few resources for residents with untreated mental illness.
“It’s important, if it’s 2 in the morning and someone is having a crisis, to take them somewhere where they can get help,” Allegan County Sheriff Frank Baker said. “Our only alternative is to take them to jail, and we all know that’s not the best place for them.”
After a brief evaluation by the state, Berrien County Sheriff Chuck Heit added, “they’re found to not be competent, they need treatment, but they’re sent back to our jail for six months while there’s not a bed. So that has been a huge issue for us, and for sheriffs across the state … It’s a funding issue.”
Nesbitt offered few details behind his proposal, including basic questions like how many additional psychiatric beds he’d like to build, how many hospitals or how the new facilities would be paid for. Nesbitt claimed rooting out “waste, fraud and abuse” in state government could free up funds, but said at the roundtable “you have to have that investment, otherwise it gets even more expensive.”
“It’s not going to be cheap, but we can’t ignore it,” Heit said.
While other gubernatorial candidates have advocated for expanding access to mental health resources, Nesbitt is the first candidate to call for creating more long-term institutions for individuals who can’t safely be part of the state’s adult foster care system, but haven’t committed crimes deserving of a long prison sentence.
Nesbitt’s proposal coincides with a recent executive order from President Donald Trump aimed at getting what Trump called “drugged-out maniacs and homeless people” off the streets, largely through increased involuntary institutionalization — something that couldn’t happen in Michigan without more capacity. Anti-homelessness and addiction advocates have criticized Trump’s order.
Cass County Prosecutor Vic Fitz argued one to three months of psychiatric treatment in a state facility could be enough to help “stabilize” mentally ill patients for years, but current capacity means they receive treatment “for maybe two to five days and that’s not enough time to stabilize them.
“So now they’re living in the jails, they’re living under bridges,” Fitz said.
State lawmakers have put millions toward existing psychiatric capacity in recent years, building a new hospital to replace a century-old facility in Tuscola County’s Caro, and another new facility in Plymouth called the Southeast Michigan Psychiatric Hospital will replace two aging institutions. But that modern $325-million facility will only add 54 more beds to the state’s capacity in total.
Nesbitt said afterward he saw the need for the policy after touring numerous jails throughout the state.
Other aspects of Nesbitt’s plan include banning cashless bail for violent felonies and prohibiting sanctuary cities, mandating a 15-year sentence for anyone attempting to disarm a police officer and firing the leader of the Michigan State Police.
Nesbitt also wants to instigate what he calls “Operation Tuebor” — after the state’s motto — saying he would “launch the largest ICE operation in Michigan history,” but that proposal saw little attention at the event.
Other Republican candidates, such as former state House Speaker Tom Leonard, have offered similar proposals on issues like gun rights. Leonard, like Nesbitt and other Republican candidates, is calling to repeal Michigan’s “red flag” and safe storage gun laws. A recent report from the State Court Administrative Office found 407 Extreme Risk Protection Order requests were granted in 2025 under the “red flag” law.
Nesbitt and his law enforcement supporters depicted Michigan as a state where crime has been allowed to run unchecked under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, pointing to high crime rates in some cities, the opioid crisis and a handful of instances in which undocumented immigrants have been charged with serious crimes.
Spending on defense lawyers for poor Michiganders is too high, Nesbitt argued, and he would like to see the system changed to level the playing field against criminal prosecutors. Instead of paying private attorneys to take on indigent cases, Nesbitt would want to establish a state public defender’s office and turn them into government employees.
Fitz said assistant prosecutors in his office make between $30 and $50 an hour, funded by the county, while hired public defenders can make $150 an hour, funded by the state, for felony cases.
“You got to equalize that funding,” Fitz said. “If you don’t, we’re going to have continuing problems with public safety.”
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