Push is on to privatize services – Raleigh News and Observer State – NewsObserver.com

RALEIGH — As North Carolina’s leaders struggle to balance its budget, they are considering proposals to outsource parts of the state’s troubled mental health and probation systems.

Lanier Cansler, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said this week that he is considering privatizing the care of about 80 mental patients at Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh in a unit for patients accused of crimes, including rape and murder. The patients are awaiting trial or have been found not guilty by reason of insanity.

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