The advocacy group Disability Rights New Jersey filed a lawsuit against state officials on Tuesday, alleging harrowing conditions and systematic violations of patient rights in four state-run psychiatric hospitals .
The lawsuit , filed in federal court, alleges that the “reality on the ground” at Ancora Psychiatric Hospital, Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, Trenton Psychiatric Hospital and Ann Klein Forensic Center is “more akin to psychiatric incarceration” than to a setting where patients can get proper care.
“Individuals have been sexually, physically, and emotionally assaulted, sometimes resulting in permanent injuries or death,” Disability Rights New Jersey said in a statement released along with the suit.
Reforms sought at psychiatric hospitals
The 99-page complaint names state Human Services Commissioner Sarah Adelman and acting Health Commissioner Kaitlan Baston , whose departments oversee the hospitals, as defendants, along with the state itself.
It asks the court to order reforms including better security provisions and discharge planning at the hospitals, where a combined 1,150 people are confined, and services to help patients transition back into the outside community. Disability Rights New Jersey also calls for the establishment of a stakeholder advisory group for the system and monetary penalties should the state not comply.