Sex assault a 'trade-off' in mental ward, administrator says

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ^ | May 9, 2010 | Steve Schultze, Meg Kissinger

[chickadee]

Milwaukee County's top mental health administrator intentionally houses female patients with men known to be dangerous "because the presence of women reduces the likelihood of the men being violent," according to a county supervisor's letter obtained by the Journal Sentinel.

John Chianelli, administrator of the county's Behavioral Health Division, told county supervisors during a closed-door session last month that segregating men and women would result in more violence.

"It's a trade-off," he said. "Putting 24 aggressive male patients into a male-only unit would increase the level of violence in the unit."

Chianelli's remarks came during a County Board committee called into closed session on April 14 to find out why there are reports of an increasing number of sexual assaults at the county facility, including the rape of a 22-year-old pregnant woman last summer.

[PLMerite]

“This is not a prison. This is the mental health facilty at the County Hospital.”

If you’re not free to leave, it’s pretty much the same thing.

[ccmay]

I'm sure the Imperial Japanese Army thought much the same way of the Korean "comfort women" it carried in its train.

Can you imagine how the fathers and brothers of these poor girls must feel? If one of them put a bullet between this fiend's eyes, and I sat on the jury, there would be no conviction.

[chickadee]

Thinking about the cavalier attitude of this jerk in charge, makes one nearly speechless. What’s a little rape if the ward is quieter? It’s the county employees we must think of. We can’t endanger them. [/sarcasm}

[TASMANIANRED]

Administrator needs to be removed and prosecuted.