Bob CollinsWhen you read the first two paragraphs in today’s Star Tribune story about the way Minnesota treated mentally ill patients in St. Peter, you may have to struggle to remember that this is the 21st century.
Two mentally ill patients at the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter were repeatedly abused by staff members — including, for one patient, being forced to sleep on a concrete slab for 25 nights — according to a yearlong investigation by the state Human Services Department.
The abuse, which included isolating the two for extended periods and wrapping their faces in mesh rags, took place in late 2010 and led to a much wider investigation. That examination found evidence that staffers covered up abuses and repeatedly violated isolation and restraint policies.
None of the employees implicated in the abuse has been fired and all continue to work at the hospital, the paper said.
