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"Las Vegas, N.M. is home to the state's first and only mental institution or psychiatric hospital.Built in 1889, it was originally called the Territorial Insane Asylum and then the New Mexico Hospital for the Insane. Now, it's called the New Mexico Behavior Health Institute.CLICK HERE to see video from inside the facilityThe facility is often in the news because many people featured on the news end up there.Troy Jones is the executive director of the facility.\"To come into our forensic division -- you would have had to have been charged with a felony, (or) found not competent to stand trial, and be deemed dangerous as per the criminal definition,\" Jones said.Jones won't speak about specific patients, but said most of the people in the hospital get the help they need to return to society or stand trial.Eight patients will likely spend the rest of their days within the walls of the Las Vegas hospital.Those patients include John Hyde. Hyde, who suffered from a mental illness, shot and killed five people in 2005. Two of his victims were Albuquerque police officers.Others, like homeless camper James Boyd, are frequent visitors. According to court records, Boyd was in and out of the state's psychiatric hospital at least three times in the past decade.In 2009, police believe Boyd sliced a man's face with a box cutter outside an Albuquerque homeless shelter. In 2010, police said he also punched an Albuquerque police officer outside a library, breaking her nose.Boyd was repeatedly sent to the Las Vegas facility, but he always ended up back on the streets.\"Once we've determined that they're competent, if we say that they're competent to stand trial, our treatment is done, and it's a treatment facility, not a correctional facility, that's really important to make note of because we do treatments in this facility, not corrections,\" Jones said.Last March, police said Boyd was illegally camping in the Foothills when he was shot and killed by Albuquerque police after a four-hour standoff.\"There are people that fall through the cracks. A lot of that we see is that they are their own decision makers. They do not have a guardian of any type, and they chose not to be engaged in treatment,\" Jones said.There is another place many people with mental illness end up -- the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center.Tom Swisstack oversees the jail. He said about half of all inmates have some form of mental illness.Boyd was in and out of the facility too.The head of psychiatry at MDC, John Hamilton, didn't want to speak to Target 7 on camera for safety reasons. He said in 2008 he moved to New Mexico from Houston and was surprised by what he believes is a serious lack of help for the mentally ill in New Mexico.\"In Houston, there's a functioning psychiatric emergency room that allows the police to pick up the mentally ill and instead of charging them with something, they are able to bring them to the psychiatric E.R.,\" he said.Hamilton said there are few facilities in New Mexico for the mentally ill, and the people who are able to get treatment are released in a matter of hours.\"There aren't enough beds in Albuquerque. There aren't enough beds in our state,\" he said.Many end up back home with little treatment or behind bars again.But there is hope. The jail started another program with University of New Mexico Hospital.Newly released inmates will now have direct supervision for mental health care. A caseworker takes them to appointments, and helps make sure they get treatment and other services.Right now, the program is in its infancy. There is only one caseworker and nine inmates taking part. MDC officials said they program will ramp up as they get their arms around it.\u00A0"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.koat.com/article/target-7-goes-inside-the-las-vegas-mental-institution/5056445>