TUSCALOOSA – Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation Commissioner Kathy Sawyer today joined Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility Director Jim Reddoch, Associate Commissioner for Mental Illness Kimberly Ingram and other DMH/MR employees and staff to celebrate twenty years of outstanding service form Alabama’s only state-operated forensic facility.

Mr. Don Kelley, Director of the Tuscaloosa Parks & Recreation Department, was also on hand to present Commissioner Sawyer with a check for $21, 350, which are the proceeds from the 1st Annual Charley Pell Memorial Golf Tournament. All funds raised at the event were designated for the DMH/MR. “Specifically, the proceeds will be used to renovate and upgrade Camp Partlow, which is a recreational facility used by both DMH/MR staff and clients and the general public,” Sawyer said.

“Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility has an outstanding national reputation built over two decades of hard work and service to the citizens of our great state,” Sawyer said. “Its recognition by national accrediting bodies and leading professional publications as a benchmark forensic treatment provider is an impressive testament to the work ethic of Taylor Hardin staff and employees.” 

Last year, Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility received an outstanding score of 97 from the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), the national accrediting body for hospitals and healthcare facilities. “That score places our facility in the top seven percent of all hospitals nationwide,” said Facility Director James Reddoch, J.D. “In 1999, our facility was profiled in Clinical Psychiatric News for having an extremely low seclusion and restraint rate, which is far below the rates for forensic facilities across the nation. ”

Taylor Harding Secure Medical Facility is the only maximum-security forensic facility operated by the state and serves patients committed to the DMH/MR by the Alabama criminal court system. The facility provides inpatient evaluation and treatment services pursuant to court orders issued in criminal cases. Regional evaluation programs under the supervision of Taylor Hardin staff also provide forensic competency evaluations within the community. In June 2000, Mr. James Reddoch, an attorney and Assistant Attorney General, was appointed Facility Director after having served eight years as Facility Director at Bryce Hospital. His legal expertise has proved invaluable to the daily operation of the facility.