Justice Department Reaches Agreement with South Carolina to Ensure Adults’ Access to Community-Based Mental Health Services

The Justice Department announced today that it secured a settlement agreement with the State of South Carolina to resolve the department's findings and complaint alleging that South Carolina violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Supreme Court's decision in Olmstead v. L.C. by unnecessarily segregating adults with serious mental illnesses in institutional settings, called Community Residential Care Facilities.

"The Department and South Carolina are working together to ensure that people with serious mental illnesses can be served in the community when they want to be," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. "This is a great day for the people of South Carolina and demonstrates the substantial work that can happen when the federal government and states work together."

As part of the agreement, South Carolina will ensure that it provides community-based mental health services to enable people with serious mental illness to live in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs. South Carolina will expand capacity in intensive mental health, housing, and peer support services; ensure mobile crisis response is available in all areas of the state; and identify people who are living in or referred to the Care Facilities, providing them with case management and connections with community-based mental health services, consistent with their individual needs and informed choices.

Yesterday, the parties filed a stipulation in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina to dismiss the Department's complaint while South Carolina implements the settlement agreement. The Department recognizes South Carolina for its commitment to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Additional information about the Civil Rights Division is available at https://www.justice.gov/crt.

Members of the public may report possible civil rights violations at civilrights.justice.gov/.