This is a frightening situation in my area

jillio said:
For something this important, I certainly would not give up after one attempt. Likewise, the state's Mental Health Dept. should be contacted, and legal representatives and politicians so that laws regarding release of information can be changed, and the medical board so that risk assessment can be changed. I can think of many organizations that should be contacted so that mentally ill patients are never placed in a position of being able to ever elope from a treatment facility ever again and place the public at such a great risk of being harmed.

I am fairly certain there is a good reason they are not answering emails and phone calls from the general public.
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Representative Chip Limehouse is looking into it from the legislative direction.

DHEC is responsible for the inspections of the center.

From an earlier link:

...It operates under a DHEC license for children and adolescent treatment centers and is licensed for 60 beds.

The regulations for that kind of center restrict measures such as use of restraint or isolation and require the facility to have windows that can be opened for ventilation. The center is not required to report runaways, just hospitalizations and deaths.

"As far as who comes there, we don't have any authority over that. I don't know that anybody does," said DHEC spokesman Thom Berry.

In a news release, the D.C. youth center described the Palmetto center as a "secure placement facility." Asked what that entailed, Reggie Sanders, D.C. Human Services Department spokesman, said, "I think you would have to call the center and ask them that."

Residential centers across the country treat criminal offender juveniles as regular clients, as well as juveniles from foster care and private homes, said Steve Rublee, Medical University Institute of Psychiatry director.

Rublee ran a children and adolescent residential facility for seven years.

There is a range of how restrictive the individual facilities are, but "it's a pretty restrictive environment in total," he said. Clients routinely are admitted from out of state.

"They are kids who don't have an immediate crisis but have long-standing problems and need long-term care," he said. The facilities in general are capable of handling clients with various levels of security, depending on staff and facilities, he said.

Kari Sisson, American Association of Child Residential Centers national director, said clients "go AWOL all the time." She was unfamiliar with the Summerville center, which is not an association member.
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Glenn said:
1, 2, and 3 they probably can't be answered because they need to analyze information. Not enough time has passed.
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They could at least send out an "We are in the process of looking into these matters, and will get back to you" reply.
 
The copy and paste really just supports what I have stated earlier in the thread.
 
Reba said:
They could at least send out an "We are in the process of looking into these matters, and will get back to you" reply.
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I would say that their first concern lies with their patients. They no doubt do not make inquiries regarding day to day operations of their facility a priority. I don't know of a treatment facility that would.
 
jillio said:
Not only that, but some of the requests would violate confidentiality.
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I didn't ask for any names or about anyone's mental health or therapy.

I would say that decisions regarding treatment evironment are best left to those qualified to make decisions regarding treatment environment. Our mental health system would be a huge mess if the general public were permitted to dictate these matters.
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Please note that I asked questions and dictated nothing, especially about treatment. I never mentioned treatment. I want to know what they're doing to make the whole community, not just their residents, safer.
 
jillio said:
I would say that their first concern lies with their patients. They no doubt do not make inquiries regarding day to day operations of their facility a priority. I don't know of a treatment facility that would.
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In other words, even when community members call and email them with concerns, they tell them to take a flying leap.

It would seem that if they care about staying open in that location they would be doing their best to quell any neighborhood anxieties.

Maybe they need a new PR person.
 
Reba said:
I didn't ask for any names or about anyone's mental health or therapy.


Please note that I asked questions and dictated nothing, especially about treatment. I never mentioned treatment. I want to know what they're doing to make the whole community, not just their residents, safer.
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Names, as I stated previously, are only one consideration regarding confidentiality.

When you demand that changes be made in a treatment environment, you are dictating changes in treatment, as environment in a factor in not only the treatment plan but the outcome.
 
Reba said:
In other words, even when community members call and email them with concerns, they tell them to take a flying leap.

It would seem that if they care about staying open in that location they would be doing their best to quell any neighborhood anxieties.

Maybe they need a new PR person.
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Has anyone told anyone else to take a flying leap?

How do neighborhood anxieties affect their operations?

Maybe they have a PR person who will release a public statement to the press when the time is right. It's not a priority to quell anxieties of the neighborhood residents; their priority is their patients.
 
"It operates under a DHEC license for children and adolescent treatment centers and is licensed for 60 beds."

Children and adolescent.
 
jillio said:
Names, as I stated previously, are only one consideration regarding confidentiality.
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What question did I ask that was confidential? And if it is, why can't they reply and say so?

When you demand that changes be made in a treatment environment, you are dictating changes in treatment, as environment in a factor in not only the treatment plan but the outcome.
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Where did I make any demands? I asked questions. I have no authority to make demands.
 
jillio said:
BTW, when a patient leaves a psychiatric hopsital without permission, as in this case, it is not even called "escape". It is called "elopement". Unfortunately, people seem to want to apply correctional standards to hospitalization.

And, we must also keep in mind that "appears to be" is not equal to "actually is".
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Unfortunately "some" people want to apply "mental health standards" to common thugs.

Prison is the answer.

Finally, someone in "power" gets it :) yay!

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/apr/29/4th-youth-caught-md-lawmakers-craft-bill-require-m/

'Hopefully, this will end the practice of importing criminals,' said Limehouse, of Charleston. 'Don't we have enough criminals here in South Carolina? My treatment plan is to leave them where they are and don't allow them to come to here.'
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Please note, he did not say "mentally ill". He can see right through the facade, just as I can see right through the facade. Argue till your blue in the face, maybe you will convince yourself that people actually will believe you at some point.
 
D.C.'s $20m youth detention tab gets scrutiny after escapes

By: Freeman Klopott 04/21/11 8:05 PM
Examiner Staff Writer

The roughly $20 million the District spends annually on sending delinquent youths to detention centers run by other jurisdictions is being scrutinized by a D.C. Council member after four city wards escaped a South Carolina facility.

Three of the four teens who escaped late Wednesday were back behind bars by noon Thursday. Delonte Parker, a 19-year-old who sources said was convicted of murder, was yet to be caught as of Thursday evening. The four escapees were among nine wards of the city's Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services being held at the Palmetto Summerville Behavioral Health Center in Summerville, S.C.

The escape in South Carolina "underscores the need for us to review and analyze our use of residential treatment centers outside the District of Columbia," said Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham, whose committee oversees DYRS. Graham said his committee is gathering data on the program.

The city has about 225 wards in detention centers spread across about a dozen states and spends about $300 a day on each, officials said Thursday. That's more than twice the number of DYRS youths housed in the District's detention center and about 20 percent of the agency's 1,113 wards, most of whom are not behind bars....
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Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/local...tab-gets-scrutiny-after-escapes#ixzz1L0rUpDRo
 
A person convicted of murder here, at 19, whether mentally ill or not will not be in such low security, and Iowa actually has a prison just for mentally ill criminals where they can get treatment and still be in a very secure facility.
 
Bottesini said:
A person convicted of murder here, at 19, whether mentally ill or not will not be in such low security, and Iowa actually has a prison just for mentally ill criminals where they can get treatment and still be in a very secure facility.
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Good.
 
Bottesini said:
A person convicted of murder here, at 19, whether mentally ill or not will not be in such low security, and Iowa actually has a prison just for mentally ill criminals where they can get treatment and still be in a very secure facility.
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Exactly. They would be placed in a forensic psychiatric facility.

People do not seem to grasp the fact that risk assessment and an assessment of dangerousness to self and others is done prior to deciding on placement in any facility. It is not a decision quickly or arbitrarily made. And generally, it is more than one skilled professional specializing in forensic psychology or forensic psychiarty that assesses the individual.
 
jillio said:
More likely to himself. That is why I said not likely to be a risk to the community.And risk does not translate to a general risk to himself and others in all situations. Risk is dependent upon a lot of environmental triggers and mental status at the time.
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A person charged with attempted murder, strong possibility of gang ties, not likely to be a risk to the community? More likely to be a risk to himself?

During his few days of "freedom" he didn't hurt himself.
 
Steinhauer said:
A person charged with attempted murder, strong possibility of gang ties, not likely to be a risk to the community? More likely to be a risk to himself?

During his few days of "freedom" he didn't hurt himself.
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And the only thing that can be substantiated is that he was charged, noconviction evident, of attempted murder. We do not know the circumstances behind that charge. Everything else you are stating is nothing more than speculation based on extremely flimsy logic.

I guess you have a problem comprehending what "risk to self and others means".

And, quite obviously, this individual was not a risk to others. He has been returned without incident.
 
Steinhauer said:
A person charged with attempted murder, strong possibility of gang ties, not likely to be a risk to the community? More likely to be a risk to himself?

During his few days of "freedom" he didn't hurt himself.
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"Charged" does not meant he did it. He was not convicted.

"Strong possibility of gang ties" is your opinion and possibility is not fact. He may or may not be in a gang; you don't know for a fact.

"Risk" is not for sure either. It is a chance. There is risk everywhere you go in life.
 
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