On April 6, 2016 an accused killer escaped from Washington state psychiatric hospital. Anthony Garver, 28, was charged with murder back in 2013 by tying a 20-year-old woman to her bed and stabbed her to death. As of today Garver still hasn’t been found and deputies have launched a massive manhunt to find Garver. U.S. regulators are now blaming the mental hospital for their lack of competency services to the mentally ill with charged crimes. With the hospital’s history of failing to meet the safety regulations within the facility, the regulators are threatening to cut millions of dollars in federal funding.
In the hospitals defense, I think personally dealing with mentally ill patients that have been convicted on murder is pretty nerve racking. I mean, they’re mentally unstable and who knows what could they be thinking. The news report said that patients and workers have all been victims of the many violent acts within the mental hospital. I think that is why the hospital is having trouble retaining and recruiting staff members. Having Garver not being the first to escape the facility is a huge security problem because then what’s the whole point of a mental hospital if it is so easy for a inmate to escape.
The hospital and federal government should spend more funds into bumping up the security system and hiring more security guards rather than trying to hire more staff members. If everything is kept under control within the facility then there would be less outbreaks, such as stabbings and other violent actions. Maybe then when the hospital is more safe and locked down, people would feel safer to work there.
