Mental hospital for ‘dangerous’ patients won’t be built in BR neighborhood; lawmakers want to prevent similar proposals

BATON ROUGE – A few weeks ago, it seemed like a mental health hospital was going to be built right next to homes and schools in the Glen Oaks neighborhood. 

The hospital would house “dangerously mentally ill” people who were not fit to stand trial. 

“People who are potential serial killers, serial murderers, people who destruct property,” Councilman Darryl Hurst told WBRZ. “Everybody was against it being next to a school.”

Now, Hurst wants to make sure this doesn’t happen again. He wants to put a resolution to the East Baton Rouge Metro Council to put some distance between a facility like this, and schools and homes. 

“The resolution says we are opposed to psychiatric hospitals two miles from schools, and one mile from a residential area,” Hurst said. 

Hurst says he has nothing against people who are mentally ill and realizes they need to be housed, but having them right across the street from homes and schools is not the right place. 

“We support psychiatric hospitals because they are needed, but they just don’t need to be right next to a school,” Hurst said. 

If the council approves the resolution, it will go to planning and zoning to see if the resolution is constitutional.