Atascadero State Hospital

Infobox Hospital
Name = NAMESPACE
Org/Group =


Caption =

Location = Atascadero
Region =
State = California
Country = US
HealthCare = Psychiatric
Type = Forensic psychiatry
Speciality = Mental health
Emergency = None
Standards =
Affiliation= Long Beach State University
Beds = 1239
Founded = 1954
Closed =
Website = http://www.dmh.ca.gov/Statehospitals/Atascadero/default.asp
Wiki-Links =

"Atascadero State Hospital (ASH)" is located on the central coast of California, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It is an all-male, maximum-security facility, that has patients from all over the state.

History

ASH opened in 1954, as a state-run, self-contained public sector forensic psychiatric facility. It is enclosed within a security perimeter, and licensed by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). Patients are referred to the hospital by the Superior Court, Board of Prison Terms, or the Department of Corrections.

In 1998, ASH won the Ernest A. Codman Award in the Hospital Category. [cite web |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Atascadero State Hospital |work= |publisher=The Joint Commission |date= |url=http://www.jointcommission.org/Codman/Atascadero.htm |format= |doi= |accessdate=2007-08-01 ]

Inmate murder

On March 30, 2008, the first homicide (actually it was at least the second--we will never forget 'Bergy') in the hospital's history occurred when 44-year-old inmate Earl McKee strangled a fellow inmate, 37-year-old Lawrence Rael to death with a knotted towel. McKee was originally institutionalized as a "Mentally Disordered Offender". Last year, after making abusive threats to other inmates, he was reclassified as a "Sexually Violent Predator". The murder came in the wake of federal court-mandated changes that reduced the usage of medication and restraints on patients as well as a large turnover in staffing resulting in less experienced personnel working at the hospital. [Citation |last=Romney |first=Lee |title=Patient's slaying rattles hospital | newspaper = Los Angeles Times |pages=B1 |year=2008 |date=April 4]

Commitment categories

*Incompetent to Stand Trial
*Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity
*Department of Corrections patients transferred for evaluation
*Mentally Disordered Offenders
*Sexually Violent Predators [cite web |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Atascadero State Hospital: Legal Commitments |work= |publisher= |date= |url=http://www.dmh.cahwnet.gov/Services_and_Programs/State_Hospitals/Atascadero/Legal_Commitments.asp |format= |doi= |accessdate=2007-08-01 ]

Current status

Atascadero State Hospital is currentlywhen under renovation and is in the process of shipping the remaining few dozen sexually violent predators to Coalinga State Hospital (CSH), which was built specifically to house and treat SVPs. More than 600 SVPs have already been transferred to CSH, and the state wants all SVPs at CSH by mid-2008.

Employees, staff and officers

ASH employs a staff of over 1800, with on-site training programs for a variety of schools, including nurse practitioner programs, clinical psychology internship programs, and psychiatric technician training.

The Executive Director of ASH is Jon DeMorales.

References

External links

* [http://www.jointcommission.org/Codman/Atascadero.htm The Joint Commission]
* [http://johncrippenphotography.newsvine.com The News Vine]