Authorities are struggling to decide if a state mental institution is secure enough to hold three-time killer Kevin Johns, who was ordered to be turned over for psychiatric treatment as part of a Harford County judge’s verdict this week.

Judge Emery Plitt found Johns, 25, not criminally responsible for killing 20-year-old Phillip Parker Jr. aboard a prison bus in 2005, citing records showing Johns was going untreated for severe mental illness at the time.  Now, attorneys are trying to determine if he can be kept in a secure prison like Baltimore’s Supermax rather than the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Jessup.

“Clifton T. Perkins is a hospital. It doesn’t have the same level of security as at Supermax,” said S. Ann Brobst, assistant state’s attorney for Baltimore County.

When a defendants are found not criminally responsible, state law mandates they be turned over to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for treatment, Plitt said.

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“We’re working with [Health and Mental Hygiene] to figure out the best circumstances for Mr. Johns,” said Rick Binetti, a spokesman for the  Department of Public Safety. “This is a new one for us. ... I’ve been unable to find any other inmates in our system who were found NCR.”

“DHMH has the ultimate goal of curing people and releasing them. That goal will never exist in this case,” Brobst said.

 Even after treatment, Johns will have to serve a life sentence without parole for killing cellmate Armad Cloude, and 35 years for killing his uncle in 2002.

Judge Plitt agreed to delay turning Johns over to DHMH until June 23, giving attorneys for DHMH and the Division of Corrections time to work out a compromise, Binetti said. Brobst suggested leaving him at Supermax while sending DHMH doctors to him.

Johns’ attorney, Harry Trainor, said his client would not be as dangerous once he started to get proper treatment for his bipolar disorder and psychotic disorders.

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com