Nine mental health workers at Whiting Forensic Division, the maximum security facility at Connecticut’s only state psychiatric hospital, have been arrested for the abuse of a patient.
Dozens more have been suspended for participating in or observing this abuse that continued for weeks on end -- all while under video surveillance.
We ask the commissioner of the state agency in charge of the facility about this abuse scandal, and what changes have been made to prevent this from happening again.
We'll also be joined by the Hartford Courant’s Josh Kovner who has reported on this abuse and another concerning case at Connecticut Valley Hospital -- the story of a female patient held in an all-male ward at Whiting for years.
How can Connecticut fix the institution that serves some of its citizens with the most serious cases of mental illness?
GUESTS:
- Dr. Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon - Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services
- Josh Kovner - Reporter for the Hartford Courant
- Senator Heather Somers - Co-Chair of the Public Health Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly
- India Mills - Conservator and cousin of Kim Woolfolk
- Lisa Vincent - Attorney for India Mills and author of Kim Woolfolk’s lawsuit against Whiting Forensic Division
- Lewis Bossing - Senior Staff Attorney at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
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Chion Wolf contributed to this show.