According to a Chicago Tribune report, the state of Illinois, more than any other state, relies on nursing homes to house mentally ill patients – even those patients who have been convicted of felonies.

As a result, the last year and a half has seen several incidents in Illinois nursing homes involving the mentally ill and the elderly – including the rape of a nursing home patient by a convicted felon and the severe beating of a man in a wheelchair by a mentally ill woman who had a history of drug use and prostitution.

Mentally ill patients currently make up more than 15 percent of all nursing home residents in Illinois, government records show. Included among the residents are 82 convicted murderers, 179 sex offenders and 185 armed robbers.

The Chicago Tribune found that often the background checks on new residents in nursing homes are insufficient, or criminal records are down-played. An investigation also showed that homes with more felons and mentally ill patients have fewer staff members to care for residents.

State authorities allegedly do not track assaults and other nursing home crimes, making it nearly impossible to stop the problem. When compared to the number of nursing home residents and the millions of hours of care provided to them annually, nursing home operators claim that the number of violent incidents is fairly insignificant.

The largest nursing home association in Illinois, The Health Care Council of Illinois, told the Chicago Tribune that it supports the creation of separate facilities for geriatric patients and mentally unstable criminals – and according to the Tribune’s report, state officials agree.

It seems the problem here is with the funding. In Illinois, the state just doesn’t have anywhere else to put the 3,000 criminals that have been placed in nursing homes.