From Newsgroup: alt.privacy
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/cuwdzk/i_often_hear_tha t_the_reagan_administration_shut/
A small piece of the article:
"I often hear that "the Reagan administration shut down mental
institutions and released the mentally ill into the streets." Is this
an accurate assessment of the situation, and if not, what is the real
story?
"It's more complicated than that". Deinstitutionalization was underway
long before the Reagan Administration, for good reasons. The notion was
that the mentally ill previously held in large State institutions would receive care in their community, a more humane solution made possible
in part by advances in medication. Reagan has two roles in the problems
of deinstitutionalization : as Governor of California (1967 to 1975)
and as President (1981 to 1989); as Governor he, like other Governors,
oversaw the dismantling of the State Hospitals . As President, he
pushed responsibility for mental health policy from Washington DC to
the States-- which weren't equipped to handle it."
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2