See inside renovated Tuscaloosa mental health facility for jailed patients

When incarcerated patients enter the Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility for treatment, facility director Daphne Kendrick wants them to remember that they deserve the same mental health treatment as anyone else.

"I don't have a single guilty person in here," Kendrick said. "They either are being assessed to see if they're confident to exercise their personal right to be able to defend themselves or their right to be able to plead."

The expansion and facility renovation, which will be complete in 2025, will house 225 people and offer expanded mental health services and reduce the number of patiends with mental illnesses who are in jail.

"Our goal is to get people restored," said Malissa Valdes, public information officer for the Alabama Department of Mental Health.

The facility has provided psychiatric treatment for the incarcerated before trial since 1981. Individuals who've been arrested and charged with a crime but have mental health issues are referred to the facility.

Kendrick said the mindset of patients facing the "double stigma" of having a mental health issue and being arrested was quite different when the facility opened in the 1980s.

After an $83 million renovation and expansion, there are no more bars on the doors and empty white walls. The facility is surrounded by windows providing warm light, spring colors and murals on the walls, much like a hospital.

The expansion, completed in June, added 85 additional beds to the center and made a host of other changes.

"Innovation has really helped us to be able to provide more care, more treatment opportunities," Kendrick said.

The expansion includes additional courtyards, individual and group therapy rooms, a dining area, and a medical area for nurses and doctors. There are also quiet rooms for overstimulated patients, a barber and a library.

Kendrick said adding these amenities is "more conducive to being able to have a little bit more independence and a little bit more autonomy and, honestly, more self worth because you can make your choices."

New treatment programs are available to patients to facilitate their recovery. These programs are individualized based on the patient's mental and cognitive abilities and focus on motivation, self-reliance and empowerment. Staff rewards patients with a point system for keeping their rooms tidy, staying positive and respecting others.

Kendrick said this is about removing a "a punitive system of you lose, we take away."

"We don't take away any points," she said. "You earn your points, you get your points. It's that simple. We don't make you participate."

A "living skills" room has a stove, oven, refrigerator and other appliances similar to a furnished efficiency apartment to prepare patients for living on their own when they're released. Patients are taught how to cook, do dishes, set a table and store food.

A mock courtroom is available so patients can practice how to behave in a courtroom and learn the procedures so they can be prepared and not nervous.

Virginia Scott-Adams, director of forensic mental health services, emphasized these programs and treatment options aren't limited to people residing at Taylor Hardin. The goal is to bring these competency restoration services to people still in jail so they can stand trial or be released.

"We're able to preserve justice," Scott-Adams said. "We're able to preserve the court process. We're able to protect the rights of victims and the community at large. But we're also able to serve this population so they can step out in the community and remain successful and be productive. So we're good stewards of the resources that we've been allocated, and we're seeing positive outcomes as a result of those funds that have been allocated to us to allow us to be able to continue this work."