mental hospital

16 Stories

'Dangerous' Mental Patient Flees Despite Shackles, Handcuffs

Man who was charged with attempted murder drove away in hospital van

(Newser) - A man newly transferred to Oregon's psychiatric hospital managed to escape while fully shackled and drove off in a stolen van, the Oregon State Police said Thursday. Christopher Pray, who was previously charged with attempted murder and other crimes, was last seen driving south on Interstate 5, the Oregon...

Disturbing Video Released in Irvo Otieno Case

10 people held Virginia man down until he stopped moving

(Newser) - Disturbing video showing the last moments of Virginia man Irvo Otieno was obtained by outlets including the New York Times and the Washington Post on Tuesday, the same day 10 people were indicted on second-degree murder charges. Prosecutors say the 28-year-old Black man was smothered to death as he was...

After 15 Years, Mom Who Drowned Kids Still Shuns Release

Andrea Yates annually declines release hearing at Texas mental hospital

(Newser) - It's been more than 20 years since Andrea Yates drowned her five young children—Noah, 7; John, 5; Paul, 3; Luke, 2; and 6-month-old Mary—one by one in a bathtub, which ultimately landed her in a Texas mental hospital. She's still there—but not against her will....

Mistaken Identity Lands Man in Mental Hospital for 2 Years

Joshua Spriestersbach protested that he wasn't Thomas Castleberry, to no avail

(Newser) - Hawaii officials wrongly arrested a homeless man for a crime committed by someone else, locked him up in a state hospital for two years and eight months, forced him to take psychiatric drugs, and then tried to cover up the mistake by quietly setting him free with just 50 cents...

State's Biggest Mental Health Facility Plagued by Problems

The Wyoming State Hospital is apparently in crisis

(Newser) - Legal guardians of Wyoming State Hospital patients say serious problems persist at the mental-health facility four years after employees abandoned an incapacitated woman on a couch without food, water, or bathroom use for over 24 hours, the AP reports. They say the problems include a suicide, attempted suicides, sexual assault...

Slender Man Sentence an Issue of 'Community Protection'

Morgan Geyser, 15, was sentenced to 40 years in a mental hospital for her role in stabbing attack

(Newser) - A Wisconsin girl who stabbed a classmate in an attack inspired by the fictional horror character Slender Man was sentenced to 40 years in a mental hospital Thursday. Judge Michael Bohren granted the maximum penalty that prosecutors had sought, and he discounted Morgan Geyser's youth—she was just 12—...

Reagan Shooter to Spend Most of His Time on Outside

John Hinckley granted 17 days per month at mother's home

(Newser) - It's quite the step up from the series of 10-day excursions he was once allowed to make outside the mental hospital he's called home since shooting Ronald Reagan in 1981. John Hinckley will now be allowed to stay with his mother in Williamsburg, Virginia, for 17 days per...

Doctors: Andrea Yates Ready for Picnics, Outings

Mother who drowned her 5 kids has been institutionalized since 2006

(Newser) - A Texas mother who drowned her five children in a bathtub in 2001 is ready to leave the state psychiatric hospital for picnics and other outings with fellow patients, her doctors say. Andrea Yates, 49, has been institutionalized since 2006, when a second trial found her not guilty by reason...

Nevada Bused 1.5K Mentally Ill to Other States

State officials defend policy, but critics say dangerous for patients

(Newser) - States all over America are wrestling with what to do about the tough, enduring, and expensive problem of mental illness. But Nevada came up with an innovative solution—bus them out of state. Since 2008, Nevada's top mental hospital has shipped out 1,500 people, sending at least one...

Alabama to Close Most Mental Hospitals

Move, inspired by budget crunch, might actually help patients

(Newser) - Alabama plans to shut down four of its six mental hospitals, laying off 948 employees in the process, by next year, state officials announced this week. By next May, only two facilities will remain open, one for criminal suspects, and another for geriatrics, the New York Times reports. The move...

At Cuckoo's Nest Facility, 3,500 Forgotten Remains

Officials contact kin of patients at Nurse Ratched's stomping grounds

(Newser) - The remains some 3,500 patients of an Oregon mental hospital used as a stand-in for the sadistic facility in the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest have sat in a storage area for years—and officials have published the names of patients who died at the hospital between...

Cuckoo's Nest Hospital to Reopen

Oregon facility has history of psychiatric abuse, too

(Newser) - An Oregon mental hospital that served as the set for the classic film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest—and the scene of some real-life psychiatric abuse—is being overhauled and will reopen, the AP reports. Though Cuckoo's Nest wasn't about Oregon State Hospital, the institution, like its fictional counterpart,...

Cops Catch Insane Killer Who Fled Field Trip in Wash.

Phillip Paul sparked state manhunt

(Newser) - A schizophrenic killer who ducked out of a mental hospital field trip has been caught in south-central Washington, the Spokesman-Review reports. Phillip A. Paul, 47, slipped away at the Spokane County Interstate Fair on Thursday and triggered a police manhunt. A sherriff's deputy caught him today trying to hitch a...

Insane Asylums Weren't So Bad: Oliver Sacks

(Newser) - Mental health experts have lost touch with the benefits of old-fashioned insane asylums, where patients once enjoyed a sense of community and jobs like cleaning and farming, Oliver Sacks writes in the New York Review of Books. Touching on a new book of Christopher Payne photographs called Asylum—which offers...

Boyle Rushed to Mental Health Clinic

Singing star hospitalized for exhaustion

(Newser) - An emotionally drained Susan Boyle has been rushed to a celebrity mental health hospital in London, the Sun reports. The 48-year-old singing sensation was acting “spaced out” and strange at her hotel following her second-place finish in the show’s finals on Saturday, according to the staff of Britain’...

Elisabeth Fritzl, Children Leave Hospital

(Newser) - Elisabeth Fritzl was released today from the psychiatric institution where she has been hospitalized since being discovered in April, the Guardian reports. Recuperating with her at the hospital, and also released today, were the six surviving children fathered by Josef Fritzl, who is imprisoned awaiting trial on charges of rape...

16 Stories