California closed its giant mental hospital to help patients. Instead, it left thousands with nowhere to go.
A beautiful college campus in Ventura County hides a dark history of broken promises.
Imagine being told you are being freed from a giant asylum for your own good. But when the gates open, the help you were promised simply is not there.
Before it became Cal State University Channel Islands, this site was the Camarillo State Mental Hospital. At its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, it was one of the largest mental health facilities in the country. It held about 7,000 patients.
The hospital was like a self-sustaining city. It sat on thousands of acres of farmland, cut off from the rest of the world. It had its own dairy farm, ice plant, church, and fire department.
For decades, it was the largest employer in Ventura County.
Then, in 1997, the state shut it down. The goal was to move patients out of giant institutions and into smaller, local clinics. But the money for those local clinics never showed up, leaving thousands of vulnerable people with no safety net.
What the evidence shows
- 7,000 patients lived at the facility during its peak years in the 1950s and 1960s.
- 1936 was the year the state built the isolated hospital.
- 1967 was when California passed a law making it much harder to commit people against their will.
- 1997 was the year the state officially closed the facility.
- Zero dollars of the promised local funding arrived in many communities, leaving patients stranded.
The Bigger Question
We have to ask why we build systems to solve one problem while completely ignoring the next one. The state wanted to protect patient rights by ending forced isolation. That was a good goal.
But why did leaders shut down the old system before the new clinics were ready? This choice forced vulnerable people onto the streets. It created a crisis we are still trying to solve today.
The Other Side
Supporters of the closure argued that giant state asylums were outdated and cruel. They believed local care would give patients more dignity and freedom. The law in 1967 aimed to protect people from being locked up against their will.
But without the cash to build local clinics, that freedom quickly turned into neglect. The argument for freedom is strong, but freedom without support is not a real choice.
What Happens Now
Today, students walk the halls where thousands of patients once lived. The old hospital is now a state university.
But the lack of local mental health clinics still affects our communities. Many people who would have received care decades ago now end up in local jails or on the streets.
What We Still Don't Know
- Where did the money go that was supposed to fund local clinics?
- How many former Camarillo patients ended up homeless or in jail after the 1997 closure?
- What plans do state leaders have to finally build the community care they promised decades ago?
Source Note:
Information for this story comes from historical records of Camarillo State Mental Hospital and California state legislative history.