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UER Forum > Archived UE Main > Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! (Viewed 1129 times) nutekk  Location: Central NJ Gender: Male  |  |  Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! < on 1/7/2008 1:26 AM >   WINSLOW — Imagine you're a patient at the state-run Ancora Psychiatric Hospital, where under court order and against your will, you are ordered confined for an indefinite period of time. Escorted by poorly trained and low-paid state workers, you enter the hospital's dimly lit, 50-year-old main building, where the hallways are lined with cheap concrete block painted in institutional beige and pale green. Soon, you are assigned to an overcrowded ward with 40 other patients. Some of them walk unsteadily, heavily sedated with slack jaws and hooded eyes. Others pace manically back and forth, watching you nervously as you walk past. For the past 31 years, this has been Ted Novak's world as he has served as the deputy public advocate, representing poor, destitute patients ranging from the criminally insane to the suicidal and depressed. "At the very least,'' he says, "the state owes these patients a calm and restful environment, a safe environment, where they have the best chance of getting well.'' Instead, statistics help paint a picture of a facility plagued by overcrowding, drug abuse and violence, with patients and staff, Novak said, living in "an environment of fear.'' Consider how you would feel if you lived here: Like clockwork, an assault occurs every seven hours at Ancora, with 1,212 assaults reported in 2006. That's actually an improvement. In 2001, 3,270 assaults were reported, or about one every 2 3/4 hours. In a hospital ward known as Cedar Hall D, even the professional staff hired to help you are in danger. Nine of the last 11 psychiatrists who worked with patients over the last seven years have been beaten and bloodied in Cedar Hall, Novak said. Some endured head injuries, concussions, broken bones. Some missed six months of work. Others, he said, left the medical profession. Michelle Beckett, a 28-year-old South Jersey resident suffering from depression and drug addiction, says she was able to smuggle heroin into the facility twice, and that alcohol could easily be purchased from other patients and Ancora staff members. She overdosed on heroin that she was able to sneak into Ancora in June 2006. Citing patient confidentiality, Kevin Martone, an assistant commissioner for the state Department of Human Services, would not comment on Beckett's allegations but acknowledged that patients can get alcohol and drugs illegally. Beckett described the environment you would live in, if you were a patient at Ancora. "I saw a patient allowed to beat up another patient, with staff present,'' Beckett said. "I hope to God I never have to go back there.'' Martone said: "I think there's access to drugs and alcohol at Ancora. I think it's a combination of things. There are patients who get access to it from visitors. "I'm aware of it,'' Martone said, adding that patients can get drugs or alcohol "from some staff.'' Human Services' police force is working undercover to get at the root of the problem, he said. "The situation is unsafe' After the Asbury Park Press asked about drug abuse at the facility, drug-sniffing dogs were sent to Ancora, but no arrests were made. No staff members have been arrested for selling drugs or alcohol at any state-run psychiatric hospital in either 2006 or 2007, according to Human Services spokeswoman Ellen Lovejoy. Lovejoy also confirmed Novak's report that nine psychiatrists have been assaulted at Cedar Hall in the last seven years. In fact, Novak's estimate was too conservative. In all, there have been 19 assaults of psychiatrists at Ancora since 2001, Lovejoy said. Nine assaults occurred in Cedar Hall, and 10 more assaults occurred at three other Ancora buildings where patients are treated. Novak, 60, is a state employee. He granted a rare interview, which had to be cleared by his superiors. At Ancora, Novak said, you would find an atmosphere in which patients and staff were afraid for their safety and frightened of each other, "because the situation is unsafe.'' Ancora is under the microscope because on Dec. 9, DeWitt Crandell Jr., 35, a patient who in 1996 was found not guilty of killing his parents by reason of insanity, walked away, unnoticed, from the institution. Captured the next day, he was put under 24-hour suicide watch by two staffers. He was later found dead, hanged by a bed sheet in a bathroom. On Friday, the state Department of Human Services announced disciplinary actions against nine workers in the wake of Crandell's death. Hard to re-enter society But Novak is not finished painting his portrait of a facility where he has worked for three decades of his life. One final element remains. Imagine that you have gone through treatment. Despite the conditions, you have survived. When your doctors say you're ready, you go to court to win your freedom. In most cases you would be accompanied by Novak or one of the other state's public defenders because, like more than 90 percent of the patients at Ancora, you have little or no money of your own. At your hearing, the judge rules that you are free to re-enter society. So now what? Do you think you are free to find a home, or a job, or a group home where you can begin to resume your life? Think again. What is more than likely to happen is that, even though you are free to go, you will be sent right back to Ancora. Of the 761 patients living at the institution, about 360 patients have been ordered released, but they have no place to go. So their period of confinement is extended, and they live under Conditional Extension Pending Placement status. This is an important part of the environment at Ancora, Novak says. Patients who were waiting to be released, who faithfully attended therapy with the goal of being cured, find it frustrating to be returned to a facility where they are housed again with other people who are still suffering from severe mental illness. Frustrated, angry patients, living in overcrowded quarters, get into arguments and fights. At night, they hear the screams of other patients and are unable to sleep. That's why, Novak says, some cured patients get sick again. xtease Why they return to Ancora As a patient, you might wonder why, if you've completed your treatment, you can't be set free. There are a number of factors. New Jersey is an expensive state, says Novak, and many people spiraled downward through mental illness for years before they were committed. They have lost their families, their jobs and don't have any money. Some simply lack the cash they need to move into an apartment, and there's not enough affordable housing where they can get a low-income job and take care of themselves. There are also patients who still need some minimum level of supervision, and there are not enough group homes for them to move into. And of the 360 patients who have been ordered released, 43 are Megan's Law offenders. Thirty-one of the 43 are in the lowest tier or least dangerous category of sex offenders, according to statistics from the state Department of Human Services. All of the state's mental hospitals face a similar problem placing patients who have been cleared to leave by the courts, Martone said. Statistics show that, throughout the state's mental health system, half the patients living in institutions aren't supposed to be there. A murder, other attacks Problems at Ancora have made news for years. In July 2006, a patient was murdered by another patient at the hospital. On Jan. 5, 2007, a patient was severely beaten by another patient and subsequently died. In 2007, according to the state's statistics, 36 assaults were categorized as "moderate,'' and two were listed as "major.'' Moderate injuries include human bites breaking the skin, and injuries around the eyes, such as bruising, swelling or lacerations. Major injuries would require hospitalization and would typically include skull fractures and broken bones. More detailed data for injuries suffered in 2007 was not released because it would violate laws requiring that patients' medical records be kept private. Mary Lynne Reynolds, executive director of the Mental Health Association in Southwestern New Jersey, says she has been lobbying for years to improve conditions at Ancora. "Ancora has the reputation for being the worst hospital in the state,'' she says. "It seems that Ancora is the dumping ground for the whole mental health system.'' xtease New CEO takes charge But as bad as it is, state officials say that they have made significant changes in recent weeks. Two days after Crandell … the 35-year-old patient who hanged himself while he was supposed to under 24-hour watch by two Ancora employees … the state reassigned Ancora's chief executive, Latanya Wood El, to perform other duties in the Human Services commissioner's office, where she is still being paid her $107,600 annual salary. Wood El was replaced by Greg Roberts, assistant director of the state office of hospital management. Roberts has run three other hospitals in the state's mental health system, and he was the chief executive officer at Ancora from 1998 through 2000. Even in a scheduled tour with a reporter and photographer, Roberts found some conditions that displeased him. A patient was lying on the floor in Cedar Hall. Roberts walked over to the man and gently asked him to get up. "He wasn't asleep,'' Roberts said later. "He was just lying on the floor. This is more than a pet peeve of mine. It's just unacceptable to see a patient on the floor. Our goal is to get the patients attending programs. If the starting point is to get them off the floor and into a chair, let's start there. "The challenge here, in this hospital, is to change the culture,'' Roberts said. To that end, he said, he has already served notice on more than 20 top managers and department heads that their job performance is being evaluated. "The problems that they have sustained here are a reflection on the leadership of this hospital,'' Roberts said. "The leaders of this hospital have heard from me very clearly in the last weeks on a number of occasions that they have to do a better job.'' Security guards, who lost track of Crandell when he wandered away from the facility, were given strict new procedures on how to sign patients in and out when they are given permission to get exercise on the hospital grounds. New training programs are planned, but they can't be fully implemented, Roberts said, until staff shortages are resolved. xtease Overcrowding since '98 But the biggest problem, he said, is overcrowding. Before the state closed its antiquated facility in Marlboro in 1998, Ancora's patient population regularly hovered around 550. When former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman closed Marlboro, Ancora's population shot up to more than 700 patients. About 760 live there now. "Overcrowding is the root of all evil in a psychiatric hospital,'' Roberts said. "All bad things that happen have their root in overcrowding, including violent incidents and staffing issues.'' Ancora is designed to hold about 710 patients. But Roberts said the hospital could lose its culture as a warehouse for the seriously mentally ill if its inmate population returned to the mid-500s. Novak said he gives high marks to Martone and Roberts and said he feels their willingness to make changes at Ancora is genuine. But the bottom line, Novak said, is that the patients he sees on a regular basis must get better care. "It's an unsafe facility and one that needs some correction,'' Novak said. "There are too many people being hurt.'' Alan Guenther: (609) 978-4584 or [email protected] cheers ! " Take only pictures, leave only footprints" nomeus  This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information. Location: FLA Gender: Male www.FLURBEX.com  |  |  |  |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 1 on 1/7/2008 1:36 AM >   wtf...how depressing is this? www.terraincognito.com 90rock  Location: Calgary Gender: Male  |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 2 on 1/7/2008 2:02 AM >   Very depressing. This is the whole reason why the deinstitutionalization movement of the 1970s happened. That process closed most of the asylums that we visit. broaddaylight  Location: new joisey Gender: Female thats me on the left, notice how im eye level with his man meat  |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 3 on 1/7/2008 12:39 PM >   you have a cliff notes version of that you can post? Steal only whatever you can run with comfortably and leave no footprints tron_2.0  Location: Ohio Gender: Male  |  |  |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 4 on 1/7/2008 1:04 PM >   glad i dont live in jersey! ohio's psychiatric hospitals, or rather the hospital that i briefly visited, are pretty nice. [quote][i]Posted by yokes[/i] I find your lack of coziness.... disturbing. [/quote] eidolon  Location: Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen  |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 5 on 1/9/2008 8:45 AM >   Posted by broaddaylight you have a cliff notes version of that you can post? Asylums are terrible places to be, people will always find ways to indulge their vices, and authorities will often let themselves be corrupted to make a buck helping them do so. Live-Bait   |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 6 on 1/9/2008 10:54 AM >   Posted by broaddaylight you have a cliff notes version of that you can post? lol, seriously Soldat  Location: Philadelphia, PA Gender: Male The Mayor of Noobtown  |  |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 7 on 1/9/2008 6:33 PM >   Posted by 90rock Very depressing. This is the whole reason why the deinstitutionalization movement of the 1970s happened. That process closed most of the asylums that we visit. Result of the deinstitutionalization that took place from the 1970's until currently? Less miserable overcrowed hospitals that are terrible places to be while all the other patients get to spend their days in and out of hospitals on anti-pshychotic drugs with terrible side effects. What ever happened to the Moral Treatment? Montag   |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 8 on 1/9/2008 6:35 PM >   This is good indication of the direction of all medical treatment in America if medicine is socialized. handskills  Location: Jer zay Gender: Male visual distress  |  |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 9 on 1/11/2008 4:01 AM >   f'in nuttek... you see the one I posted over in the northeast section? I have the article from sunday and the follow up on monday saved here at home. big dave  Location: SoCal Gender: Male  |  |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 10 on 1/11/2008 5:11 AM >   Posted by broaddaylight you have a cliff notes version of that you can post? Does anyone in this world extend themselves anymore? An armed society, is a polite society. So lets get to it! Biscottie  Location: Southern California  |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 11 on 1/11/2008 6:12 AM >   Posted by big dave Does anyone in this world extend themselves anymore? No, it takes too much effort to sit down and read a few paragraphs. FknBadFkr  Location: Charleston SC Gender: Male I never know whats going to happen so i carry alot of shit to be ready  |  |  |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 12 on 1/11/2008 4:41 PM >   So they would smuggle in drugs and such through the orderlies, Heck yeah. A good looking crazy chick with a heroin addiction and my needs would work out just fine. Jk, it is sad to knwo that something that strated for good ended up as if it were run by Ted kennedy. Hurray for the American way. Only thing worth losing are people who hold you back. I never know whats going to happen so i carry alot of shit to be ready. Inascent  Location: Henderson, Las Vegas, Nevada Gender: Male Photographer. Explorer. Dreamer.  |  |  |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 13 on 1/12/2008 12:56 AM >   It saddens me to read about things like this. But it's necessary if something is going to change. www.DanJClarkPhoto.com tat2dwitch  Location: Hudson County NJ Gender: Female  |  |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 14 on 1/14/2008 2:30 AM >   Posted by broaddaylight you have a cliff notes version of that you can post? Uh Yeah LOL that would be nice but seriously that is so damn depressing and frightening to hear of places like this ! Yes There was no more room in hell so they sent me back ! Senseriffic  Location: Elizabeth, NJ I am drowning in a digital sea  |  |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 15 on 1/22/2008 8:16 AM >   New Jersey's mental facilities are mostly SHIT..... I speak from personal experience... when I was 13 my parents put me away. I was very out of control and... because they are shitty parents didn't want to deal with me anymore. I can't even tell you about the fucked up shit that happened in that hospital. Its a painful memory for me, but being there, I realized that I was NOT that fucked up in the head!!! I'm not going to talk about my personal experience... its something Ive tried to block out. There were kids having sex in the closets, staff putting kids in the panic room for almost NO fucking reason at all (not always though, some of them deserved it) so many of these kids cut themselves while IN the hospital. Those retards didnt notice a safety pin on a pair of my clothing (I wasnt into the cutting thing but it just amazes me that they obviously didnt even check) For a state that has the highest cost of living next to CA and the highest property taxes... Youd figure the mental health care system would be a LITTLE better right??? The blind lead the blind into bottomless pits, Still we smile and deny that we're cursed. But of all our iniquities ignorance may be the worst. Oryx  Location: Who knows :|  |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 16 on 1/22/2008 5:47 PM >   Posted by Senseriffic New Jersey's mental facilities are mostly SHIT..... I speak from personal experience... when I was 13 my parents put me away. I was very out of control and... because they are shitty parents didn't want to deal with me anymore. I can't even tell you about the fucked up shit that happened in that hospital. Its a painful memory for me, but being there, I realized that I was NOT that fucked up in the head!!! I'm not going to talk about my personal experience... its something Ive tried to block out. There were kids having sex in the closets, staff putting kids in the panic room for almost NO fucking reason at all (not always though, some of them deserved it) so many of these kids cut themselves while IN the hospital. Those retards didnt notice a safety pin on a pair of my clothing (I wasnt into the cutting thing but it just amazes me that they obviously didnt even check) For a state that has the highest cost of living next to CA and the highest property taxes... Youd figure the mental health care system would be a LITTLE better right??? Heh, I've had a very similar encounter. Being sent away and whatnot. There was actually a riot when I was there. About 8 of us got "the shot". Another kid was stuck in the air ducts for two hours from trying to escape, which I found fuckin hilarious. Other than waking up to mice in my room, sliced up wrists, fights, and a nurse who had to stab my arm several times to draw blood because they couldn't find my damn vein... my stay there wasn't as horrendously vile as stories I've heard about other asylums. DeMiNe0  Location: Brooklyn, NY Gender: Male DeMiNe0.CoM  |  |  |  |  |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 17 on 1/25/2008 8:00 PM >   I know someone who was put away in a metal institution when she was between 13-14... MAYBE 15. Same deal as senseriffic, Shitty stupid asshole parents, who really arn't even fit to have a kid(still arn't). She got no real help there. Instead she was exposed to a room mate, that insisted she try the Dildo she made out of sharp sticks... pretty sad. HtTp://WwW.DeMiNe0.CoM Blah1514  Location: Michigan Gender: Male Dammit BOB!  |  |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 18 on 1/27/2008 7:31 AM >   every story I've ever heard about psychiatric hospitals or metal wards in hospitals are sickening. The whole process is ridiculous. Once admitted, they put you through a ringer, dope you up on all sorts of unnecessary drugs, treat any emotion as a sickness or disease....it's a complete and utter mockery of medical care. It's no wonder that so many patients have a hard time readjusting. They're doped up on tranquils and scared shitless to do anything that could be frowned upon. Good post. - very interesting read. Michigan Winters really suck nutekk  Location: Central NJ Gender: Male  |  |  Re: Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! <Reply # 19 on 1/27/2008 11:28 AM >   Posted by broaddaylight you have a cliff notes version of that you can post? this coming from a guy who will sit and scan google earth / live maps for hours at a time ... cheers ! " Take only pictures, leave only footprints" UER Forum > Archived UE Main > Assaults @ Asylum gone haywire ! (Viewed 1129 times) All content and images copyright © 2002-2024 UER.CA and respective creators. Graphical Design by Crossfire. 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