The METO Settlement
Steve Larson: What is METO?
Steve Larson: METO is the Minnesota Extended Treatment Options program that was created in the 1990s. There was concern that there would be situations in which individuals with disabilities were going to have crises or be at risk of entering the prisons, and so they wanted an alternative to that. So a 48-bed facility was established on the Cambridge…former Cambridge State Hospital campus.
The original intent was that there were individuals with disabilities that had severe behavioral issues or had been involved in the criminal justice system. So this was going to be a facility that would meet the needs of individuals that had lost their placements, were coming out of prison, or were at risk of going to prison to try to meet their needs while community placements were developed for them.