More than two decades after voters were promised a new facility to treat people with mental illnesses, rather than warehousing them in the county jail, the Miami-Dade County Commission gave final approval on Tuesday to open the Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery. The vote was unanimous.
After the vote, visitors and commissioners alike gave a standing ovation to retired judge Steve Leifman, who has spent his career fighting to provide care and treatment to those in the criminal justice system suffering from mental illness.
“This man never gave up, he never lost hope,” said Miami Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, in a press conference following the meeting with Judge Leifman at her side. “There were definitely times when we weren’t quite sure how we were going to get this across the finish line, but his total dedication, his passion, his knowledge and experience, and he’s like the Pied Piper.”
Leifman appeared more exhausted than happy, acknowledging the fight to get the center approved had taken far too long. He said there is still a stigma surrounding mental illness.
“This isn’t something most people want to talk about; it’s easy to ignore,” Leifman said. “Most of the reform you see in the United States is coming through the judiciary. It’s not the executive or legislative branches, and it’s really because we’re on the front lines. I used to tell people, and it wasn’t a joke, that as a judge in the criminal division, I saw more people with serious mental illnesses in a day than most psychiatrists saw in a month. And that says it all.”
At any given moment, a thousand people with mental illnesses are languishing in Miami-Dade’s jails, not receiving the treatment they desperately need. This center could help many of them trapped in a system where the only real crime is being homeless and mentally ill.
Voters approved a bond issue to build the center back in 2004.
And after numerous delays, the building was finally completed two years ago. Yet it remained empty, helping no one, caught up in the type of petty politics that is typical of Miami-Dade government.
Asked how he was feeling after the vote, Leifman told CBS News Miami’s Jim DeFede, he was “a little overwhelmed, but appreciative.”
“You know, I wish it didn’t take this long,” he continued. “Politics, I guess, are what they are. But I think the most gratifying part is once the community learned about the issue, they stepped up, too. And I don’t think we would have gotten the response we got today without that happening. And I just appreciate that it got done. And I mostly appreciate the fact that we’re going to help the most vulnerable people that need it.”
He said his experience shows that if people are treated early, and aren’t just allowed to sit untreated in jail, they have a much better chance of recovering.
“We know today that for people who go long periods of time without treatment, who are psychotic,” Leifman said, “the gray matter in the brain is getting destroyed. It’s like having a heart attack and letting someone lie out on the street – the heart gets permanently damaged. Well, the same is true with the brain. And so we need to move upstream, we need to act quicker.”
“I was concerned, but I got to tell you, I never gave up hope, never, and I just deep down have always believed, and maybe it’s my personality or how I was raised, if you do the right thing for the right reason, the good people are going to stand with you. And they did. And so I never give up. I doubt sometimes, but generally, you know, I felt pretty good, and when you came into the picture, it gave me renewed hope. And it didn’t change. And so, thank you to you, your station, and the legacy of your station, which has always dealt with this issue. So thank you,” he said.
So why did it take so long?
There were mistakes made by the center’s supporters, including Judge Leifman, who promised the center would pay for itself. Nothing is ever free.
But there was also a lot of pettiness by critics whose motivation seemed to be rooted in the desire to prevent Raquel Regalado, the commissioner sponsoring the legislation to open the center, a victory.
For months, a handful of county commissioners – most notably Chairman Anthony Rodriguez and fellow commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgens – blocked the center from coming up for a vote.
And even though funding for the first three years of the center was already in place, they kept wondering if a county with a $15 billion annual budget could really afford to pick up a projected $12 million shortfall for the center in five years. (Leifman disputes that shortfall and said once the center opens, they will be able to apply for grants and other sources of funding. He said his fundraising efforts had been hampered by the uncertainty over the center’s opening.)
Earlier this month, during a special meeting of the county commission, it became obvious that Rodriguez and Cohen Higgins were fighting a losing battle, and the center had the support of a majority of commissioners.
On Tuesday, Commissioner Kionne McGhee, a former prosecutor, said getting the center open was not only the right thing to do, but it may be one of the most important things they ever do as commissioners.
“We’re going to pass hundreds, if not thousands, of pieces of legislation from this dais,” he said. “But I do honestly believe this is going to be one of the most consequential ones that we will be able to look back on and identify that moment in that memory; that actually gave birth to something that so many people in this community definitely need.”
Regalado thanked her fellow commissioners for their support.
“This was not easy when we started working on it, and we’ve come very far,” she said. “I know that there were moments that were difficult, but I truly believe that leadership is about creating consensus, not gagging it. So, I think that today is a wonderful day.”
The fight to open the center galvanized numerous groups across the community. Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski spoke out in support of the center. Business leaders, homeless advocates, community activists, and local and state politicians all kept the pressure on. One of the groups at the forefront was PACT – People Acting for Community Together. More than 800 people showed up recently at a forum to push for the mental health center and demand that the commission act.
One of the leaders of PACT, Rabbi Jessica Jacobs from Temple Beth Shalom, said she never lost hope that their fight would succeed, although she admitted it was frustrating hearing some commissioners suggest helping people with mental illnesses might not be worth the expense.
“Money has always been the challenge,” Rabbi Jacobs said. “We spend money on so many things that in my mind are less important than this. And it has been a challenge the entire time. Why aren’t we putting money towards the people in our community who are vulnerable when we’re putting money toward so many other issues? I mean, that came up over and over and over again. It’s certainly been frustrating, and I really commend the judge, and I commend our community for pushing forward and saying, if we’re going to put money towards anything, it’s towards this.”
“It’s a matter of setting priorities,” she added.
Another local activist from PACT, Tyisha Anthony, said this commission vote shows what can happen when ordinary people come together to fight for what is right and just.
“It wasn’t an easy fight because we’ve been to this chamber many times and were disappointed,” she said. “We would walk away without them taking a vote, walk away with another delay. And to finally have it come to fruition and everyone unanimously on it, just it means the world, it means the world.”