Times and Herald-Tribune investigation finds violence doubled in Florida's state mental hospitals after $100 million in cuts
Opening the series, the Tampa Bay Times and Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported that Florida's six main state mental hospitals serve about 5,000 people a year, and that about 60 percent were defendants deemed mentally unfit to stand trial and sent for restoration. Those forensic patients share space with civil patients.
The papers found that more than $100 million had been cut from the hospitals since 2009, that nearly a third of the workforce was gone, that violent attacks had doubled, and that at least 15 people had died after injuring themselves or being attacked. They reported that state officials had fined hospitals only $2,500 over five years and that violence was under-reported to regulators.
Because most beds are used for defendants awaiting competency restoration, the findings go to the safety and capacity of the state's restoration infrastructure.
Source: How $100 million in cuts created chaos in Florida's mental hospitals — Tampa Bay Times and Sarasota Herald-Tribune, by Leonora LaPeter Anton, Michael Braga and Anthony Cormier
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