Justin Butterfield, of Poland, appeared in Androscoggin County Superior Court in February and was found not criminally responsible by reason of insanity in the 2022 Thanksgiving Day killing of his brother. Christopher Williams/Sun Journal Files
Justin Butterfield was due to meet his children later this month.
Butterfield, 35, suffers from schizophrenia and his family said part of his treatment included medication and regular contact with his two children.
“His kids are very important to him,” said the children’s mother, Yaicha Provencher, “and it keeps him grounded.”
Butterfield had been receiving treatment at Riverview Psychiatric Hospital since February, when he was found not criminally responsible for killing his brother during a mental health crisis. Like dozens of others similarly sentenced in Maine, Butterfield remains in state custody until state officials determine he no longer poses a danger to himself or others.
But on Tuesday, Provencher learned Butterfield had been transferred to Columbia Regional Care Center, a for-profit facility more than 1,000 miles away from South Carolina.
She was shocked when Riverview’s superintendent said Butterfield was kicked out because officials believed he was threatening them and refusing to take his medication.
Provencher and her children had just met with Butterfield over Zoom less than 24 hours ago, she said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Yaicha Provencher is speaking out in Augusta in December 2022 about her ex-boyfriend Justin Butterfield’s struggles to get mental health treatment. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal
Now she’s unsure how to speak to Butterfield or what information she’ll get about his treatment. To make matters worse, she fears that losing access to his children will make his condition worse, as he calls them every night but has only seen them twice this summer.
Riverview declined to discuss Butterfield’s case, but a spokesman I said before Use of the South Carolina facility is reserved for patients who have “demonstrated high levels of violent behavior” or who have assaulted staff or other patients.
But Provencher said Butterfield had not attacked anyone. Others worry it could set a troubling precedent.
“I’ve never seen a case where someone is quickly taken to South Carolina without actually hurting someone,” former state Sen. John Nutting, who serves on Riverview’s human rights commission, said in a phone interview Friday.
“This is unusual in many ways,” he said.
Contract renewal
Butterfield is one of about a dozen Mainers sent to South Carolina facilities over the past decade, where the state has spent millions of dollars on annual contracts since 2015.
Residents, their families, lawyers and other advocates He shared his concerns about the facility with the Press Herald in June.He likened the Columbia Regional Care Center to a prison.
Because Columbia does not use federal Medicare or Medicaid funding, it can employ the prison-like tactics employed by Riverview, including correctional officers, physical restraints and segregation. It was criticized for being used 10 years ago.Others expressed concern over the deaths of two Maine men who were students at Columbia University. Anthony Reid in December and James Staples in 2018.
Despite those concerns, Riverview continues to send patients to Columbia, and the state is in the process of renewing its contract with the facility.
Lindsay Hames, a spokeswoman for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, said she couldn’t provide a copy of the new contract because it’s still being finalized, but that it applies retroactively to July 1.
Hames said DHHS “always considers the best interests of the people we serve when making contracting decisions” and has been “in contact with Columbia Regional Care Center to ensure our standards are being met.”
The state spent about $1.3 million to secure six beds under the last contract, which expired June 30. Some mental health treatment experts question whether that money was spent appropriately.
Hannah Longley, clinical director of support and crisis care for the Maine chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said the state continues to have a “serious shortage” of local mental health treatment options.
“We want to build a strong, proactive mental health system here so we don’t have to send our neighbors out of state,” Longley said.
She pointed Shortage of crisis response personnel The shortage of health care providers, including psychiatrists, is especially pronounced in rural areas.
Butterfield is originally from Poland, a rural town outside Lewiston, and Provencher previously said his concerns about the suspect’s paranoia and hallucinations went unheard or unaddressed years before he was charged with murder.
Nutting and Provencher are also members of the Maine chapter of the National Silence Breaking Coalition, a group focused on advocating for policies that help people with severe brain disorders, including schizophrenia.
Both men spoke out about Butterfield’s case and the failure of Maine’s extensive mental health resources to help him before it was too late.
She said at a December 2022 press conference that Butterfield had been hospitalized eight times over a three-year period, had once burned down a building where he thought children were being tortured and led police on a high-speed chase, the Sun Journal reported.
“It seems violent.”
Provencher said she was able to speak briefly with Butterfield on Friday for the first time since he was transferred, and that Butterfield told her that Riverview had changed his antipsychotic medication and that he was only refusing to take it because he wanted to go back on his original medication.
“(Butterfield) genuinely felt he wasn’t taking the medication he was prescribed because it wasn’t working,” Provencher said.
“To be fair, I was able to carry on very deep and intelligent conversations with him,” she added. “For someone who was described as violent and off his meds, and who was described as too violent to be at Riverview… that just didn’t click with me.”
Provencher said he spoke twice this week with Riverview Police Superintendent Stephanie George Roy, who confirmed Butterfield had not hurt anyone.
George Roy did not respond to a call on his voicemail Friday requesting to discuss Butterfield’s case and why he was deployed to South Carolina. Hames said the health department cannot discuss individual patients, citing confidentiality laws.
Former state senator John Nutting spoke at a December 2022 press conference in Augusta about the struggles families have had to access mental health care for their relatives. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal
Provencher said he asked George Roy why Riverview Hospital had not begun the process of obtaining a court order for a treatment plan that would require Butterfield to take medication.
Nutting also was confused as to why Riverview hadn’t started that process, saying in his experience it would be unusual for Riverview to send a patient out of state before doing so.
Provencher also spoke with a social worker in Columbia, who told her Butterfield could call her once a week for free. Riverview is helping Columbia pay the costs so she and her children can call Butterfield more often, Provencher said.
Butterfield said she has only been there a few days and has only been allowed out of her room a few times. She also said there are cockroaches in her room.
Not the same protection
Kevin Vojvodich, an attorney with the Maine Disability Rights Association, said the organization is concerned about the rights of patients who are sent out of state.
He declined to discuss individual cases, including Butterfield’s, instead pointing broadly to the lack of due process rights for patients at risk of being sent out of state.
Riverview must legally notify a judge, but facilities are otherwise allowed to make their own decisions. There are no rules about how long they can stay in South Carolina or when they can return. It is up to the Department of Health to determine what constitutes an “appropriate placement.”
Vojvodich said he has concerns about placing Maine patients in facilities governed by another state’s laws.
“People don’t have the same protections they would have if they were in the state,” he said.
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