Dallas Morning News Alleges "Systematic" Patient Abuse at Texas Psychiatric Facilities

The story is here.

I worked for a year in an Illinois State psychiatric facility back about 20 years ago.  I have no idea what our state hospitals are like today, but my experience back then was that I'd never encountered a more small-minded, apathetic bunch of mopes in my life -- and I am referring to the staff.  Certainly, part of what I observed was due to the grinding effects of working in a bureaucratic state system that sapped the energy of those who wanted to do more than merely collect a paycheck and retire with a state pension.  At that time, many if not most of the positions were filled with political patronage hires rather than qualified people, so, for example, clerk typists would just laugh in your face if you asked them to type up something very brief.  It's entirely possible that the typists didn't even know how to type.  Although I witnessed no serious patient abuse and there were no allegations of abuse while I worked there, the atmosphere was saturated with a kind of petty cruelty and disrespect, both for patients and staff members.