Former District Judge Trippy McGuire on Tuesday joined the ranks of those opposing the placement of a secure forensic mental health facility in Andalusia, and questioning the logic of doing so.

The State Department of Mental Health, the South Central Alabama Mental Health (SCAMH), and the Covington County Commission announced the project last week. SCAMH will manage the 16-bed facility, which is expected to create 25 jobs.

Presiding Circuit Judge Lex Short has lobbied hard against the local placement of the facility, and McGuire said he agrees.

“I fear that what we are getting is a minimally-secured facility for maximum security people,” McGuire said.  “We’re talking about people, who if they are convicted, will be sentenced to death row or life without parole.

“I am concerned about safety or security issues,” he said. “We’re talking about a building with no fence, no kitchen, and five outside doors,” he said. “People will remember Oscar Roy Doster, who escaped from our brick and mortar jail, and committed murder. This facility will be housing people accused of heinous crimes and capital murder charges. This building will be housing Oscar Roy Doster-types, in a building not nearly as secure as our county jail.

“Second, being there is no kitchen, meals will have to be brought in from outside,” he said. “I see this as a lot of opportunities for escape. Will there be enough guards to guard the door while some other person brings meals in?

“Third, there are people who are misdiagnosed, who are released back into the community,” he said. “My mind goes back to the Mildred Hart murder in the 1980s. She was a Sunday School teacher at First Baptist Church, who was brutally murdered in her bathtub by two men who had been in the State Department of Mental Health for years and been deemed no longer dangerous. They were released into the community and Mildred Hart paid for it with her life.

“This will be housing people from across the state accused of committing heinous crimes,” he said. “They are pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. These are not your low risk offenders. Generally, 90 percent of those cases are in your heinous crimes. If convicted, those type of folks are going to be housed in a maximum security facility. Meantime, they are being held in a less than maximum security facilty in downtown Andalusia.

McGuire said an architect’s rendering of the facility shows five outer doors, no kitchen, and no fence.

“Those scare me,” he said. “The other thing that scares me is that mental health has been woefully underfunded. When that lack of funding means more layoffs, including staff at this facility, then what kind of security are we going to have? I don’t want Covington County people victimized when there are staff cuts. They can’t say it’s not going to happen, because it’s been that way for decades. Look at the Department of Corrections now. The ratio of guards to prisoners is horrible. There is no reason to believe it will be any different for this.

“My question if I could question mental health would be ‘Why are you putting this in Covington County?’ Now, these people go to Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility in Tuscaloosa. Psychiatrists are already there. It’s already secure, and it’s centrally located. Covington County is the southernmost county, up to five hours away from places in North Alabama. There are no psychiatrists here. Why are they putting it here instead of expanding an existing facility? It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t seem like a good way to spend taxpayer dollars. Why not put this on their property, there, that is behind a fence? Why start from ground zero at remote location that is not central, where there is no psychiatrist?”