Community Corner

Napa State Hospital, Law Enforcement Struggle With Increase In Aggressive Patients

Proposed bill on stronger lockups for aggressive state hospital patients to come before state Legislature in the next session in January.



Safety and security at Napa State Hospital have improved greatly since the murder three years ago this month of psych tech Donna Gross, officials said at a hearing Wednesday at Napa Valley College.

However, with 90 percent of the patient population now admitted through criminal court and only 10 percent through civil commitment, there are calls for increased staffing and for approval of a new state bill to have stronger lockups for aggressive patients.

"Many prisons are being turned into de facto mental hospitals, and many mental hospitals are being turned into de facto prisons," said State Assemblyman Mark Levine, who presided at the hearing along with State Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada.

Both Yamada and Levine are members of the State Assembly's committee on state hospital and developmental center safety. Yamada is chair of the committee.

Panelists at the hearing ranged from Napa State Hospital officials to hospital staff, Napa law enforcement personnel and public officials.

Dolly Matteuci, executive director of Napa State Hospital, said violent incidents have decreased in the last three years as security has improved.

In particular, new personal alert devices are now worn by staff and there are two teams of safety patrols -- one a group of hospital staff workers; and the other a Napa State Hospital police team, complete with a police substation.

However, hospital staff union reps want more to be done because serious incidents are still happening, said Zach Hatton of Napa State Hospital, a Chief Steward of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union.

Hatton said even though staffing levels sound acceptable on paper, staff often are drawn away to escort patients to appointments -- meaning that the floor staff could be down two or more people at a time during the day when medical or counseling appointments are held.

"We now have a one (staff member) to eight (patients) ratio in the a.m. shift, and one to eight in the p.m. shift," Hatton said. "And we have a one to 16 ratio at night.

"...I'd like to see it be one to six in the a.m., one to six in the p.m. and one to 12 at night," Hatton said.

Hatton and Kim Cowart, a registered nurse at Napa State Hospital and chair of the nurses section of the Service Employees International Union, both said they support Assembly Bill 1340, which would require state hospitals to have an "enhanced treatment unit" for dangerous patients.

The "enhanced treatment unit" would be a more secure section where the person would have closer surveillance and also receive more individualized care.

The bill implies that the "enhanced treatment unit" would be on the state hospital campus, but it appeared in testimony Wednesday that it also could mean the dangerous patients might be sent to Napa County Jail while they are awaiting trial.

David Lovell, a criminal justice analyst for the Napa County Executive Office, said placing mentally disturbed patients in the county jail was a bad idea -- not only for the patients who would not be getting psychiatric treatment but also for the jail which is not set up to deal with mental patients.

"It would be like expecting us to construct an intensive cardiac unit for heart patients," he said.

According to handouts at the hearing Wednesday, an "enhanced treatment unit" is already being tested at Atascadero State Hospital.

A.B. 1340 is expected to come before state Legislature in the next session that begins in January.

Cowart said the problem is that the Napa State Hospital patient population has been shifting for the last 20 years from people who come to the hospital as primarily non-criminal civil commitments to primarily referrals from criminal court -- also known as "forensic" commitments.

"Our number one goal is safety so that the patients can get treatment," she said.














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