Geoff Pender

The Clarion-Ledger

Taxpayers shelled out $300,000 last year on a study of the state’s troubled mental health services for children and housing for the mentally handicapped.

But you can’t see it. It’s a secret.

After The Clarion-Ledger asked for the report last year, the state Department of Mental Health went to a federal judge and had it sealed.

The reasoning was the state was going to use the report to make reforms to settle a federal lawsuit and threatened litigation from the U.S. Department of Justice over claims the state fails to meet the needs of children and discriminates against those with mental health issues.

That sounds like a spurious reason to hide such a report from the public about its government, but — hey — at least it was some sort of reason.

Mental Health neither settled the litigation nor, apparently, enacted reforms.

But the taxpayer-funded study on how a taxpayer-funded agency is flubbing its job remains a secret.

This summer, the DOJ broke off settlement negotiations with the state. The Clarion-Ledger renewed its motion to vacate the protective order on the public records (did I mention they were paid for with public dollars). The plaintiffs in the original lawsuit filed a motion in support of the paper’s request.

RELATED: DOJ sues state over services for mentally ill

But a U.S. magistrate ruled the report on whether a state agency is harming some of our most vulnerable citizens should still remain secret. This was in part because there might still be “the opportunity for a fair and efficient resolution between the parties.”

And the public knowing details of this report would prevent that how?

I think the porcis volandum tenet of law — when pigs fly — should be considered in this ruling.

Two of these parties are government agencies.

It should also be noted that some of the families and mental health advocates who participated in the study want it made public. Some have claimed they were dupedand would not have participated if they had known the report would be kept secret.

The most recent ruling, which The Clarion-Ledger is appealing, says it failed to establish “at this point the public’s diminished interest in the report outweighs the interest in the confidentiality of settlement related documents.”

I’d counter that the interest of those in the public with children with mental illness is not “diminished” — especially given that the problems apparently haven’t been addressed. Also, I’d say the public interest should trump any interest in confidentiality of public documents except in rare — extremely rare — cases.

As I’ve said before, Mississippi government’s default setting is secrecy.

That appears to extend to the judiciary. We’ve seen judges seal state and local government contracts because it might reveal the “trade secrets” of phone and Internet service salesmen or insurance agents or of strip mall developers receiving government subsidies.

Many state bureaucrats appear to live in eternal fear that the public, for whom they work, might get hold of records or info about what they’re up to. Going to the judiciary to thwart public disclosure appears to be becoming more and more common, and judges often appear too willing to oblige the secrecy.

Sealing public records off from the public should be an extraordinary action taken only in extreme and rare cases, not as routine.

Contact Geoff Pender at 601-961-7266 or gpender@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @GeoffPender on Twitter.

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