By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – Construction has been halted on the state’s new $43 million secure psychiatric forensic hospital in Concord, Gov. Kelly Ayotte said Wednesday.
In response to a question by InDepthNH.org at a press conference, Ayotte said there are contractual problems.
The two-year construction project was awarded to PC Construction of Portland, Maine, the winning contract bidder. They were not immediately available for comment.
“So, there are some construction issues that have come up that are being addressed, and we are working with the Attorney General’s Office on them. The Department of Health and Human Services is working in conjunction with the Attorney General’s office on that,” Ayotte said.
“I am not a construction expert but there are some issues that have arisen there on some of the work that has been done, so that is why it’s ceased right now as we evaluate that work. The Attorney General’s Office is involved along with Health and Human Services so that the work can be done properly which is important,” she said.
Asked about the delay, she said she is sure that it is going to have some impact on when the new hospital is delivered.
Work began on the 24-bed forensic psychiatric hospital in August of 2023.
The state uses the state Prison for Men’s Secure Psychiatric Unit in Concord to house people who are deemed too dangerous to themselves or others to be at the New Hampshire Hospital, but they will be moved to the new secure forensic unit on the hospital grounds when it is finished. Some haven’t been convicted of a crime.
Funding for it has come from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
When ground was broken on the facility, Timothy Whitman, chief operations officer for New Hampshire Hospital, said there will be about 300,000 square feet built on two stories for two units which will be on the grounds of the New Hampshire Hospital off Clinton Street in Concord and 150 new state employees will be needed to operate the facility.
The plan was for it to be done in 2025.
Mike Leonard, vice president for PC, an employee owned business, joined with the governor and Commissioner of Health and Human Services Lori Weaver in breaking the ground for the project.
The therapeutic hospital will care for both male and female patients, but all will be adults as the state recently opened Hampstead Hospital for children.
Former Gov. Chris Sununu said at the groundbreaking that the hospital will be built adjacent to New Hampshire Hospital and create a setting for skilled psychiatric treatment for forensic patients in a safe, secure, and therapeutic environment. He thanked the legislature for its bipartisan approach to solving the problem and said families of the patients in the prison will also benefit.
This will serve those families and “folks that just need the right and appropriate level of care that, to date, the state just hasn’t been able to provide.
“We have always said we are making a commitment to fulfill that promise. And finally, we are fulfilling it,” Sununu said.
Sununu said it will be a state-of-the-art-facility and is an extension of New Hampshire Hospital which is the centerpiece of acute care mental health in the state.
Lori Weaver, commissioner of Health and Human Services declined to comment on the construction matter and Charles Arlinghaus, commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services said he would have to find out what he could say about the matter Wednesday.
At its outset, Weaver said the new building would mark an exciting opportunity to build out the state’s 10 year-mental health plan.
“It’s important to remember that the people we serve are all part of someone’s family,” said Weaver. “The forensic hospital addresses a critical, unmet need in our state and for the first time in recent memory New Hampshire will have a facility dedicated to individuals living with a mental health condition or involved in the criminal justice system that have not been convicted of a crime.”
For her department she said in 2023 “we take comfort that forensic patients will receive treatment with dignity and without a stigma. This is a historic day for New Hampshire and it has been a long time coming.”