FULTON, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and other officials have broken ground on a new maximum security state mental hospital.
Nixon on Wednesday announced construction of the new Fulton State Psychiatric Hospital is set to be completed December 2017.
The current Fulton hospital was built in 1851 and is the oldest state psychiatric hospital west of the Mississippi. It's the state's only maximum security psychiatric center.
The hospital houses those with serious mental illnesses sent by the courts for evaluation and treatment related to a crime, or those who seriously assault staff or other patients in other hospitals.
A Missouri board in October approved issuing $98 million in bonds to pay for a new mental hospital.
Nixon says the hospital will help the state give patients the best care and treatment.