Disability Law Center finds pervasive mold plagues state hospital for mentally ill detainees

On Feb. 9, the Disability Law Center issued a report summarizing its findings from its monitoring efforts at Bridgewater State Hospital from July through December 2021. The DLC found serious health and safety issues including pervasive mold and improper use of restraint, and is calling for the state to close the facility.

Bridgewater State Hospital is the state’s secure institution for people with severe mental illness who are incarcerated, civilly committed, or being held pre-trial. “It’s just a broken facility in terms of the physical plant but also in terms of the services it provides and does not provide,” said Tatum Pritchard, litigation director and acting executive director of the DLC. 

The DLC is an agency tasked under federal law with monitoring state care for people with disabilities, and it also has authority over Bridgewater State Hospital as part of a legal settlement.

Read the DLC report, “Efficacy of Service Delivery Reforms at Bridgewater State Hospital (BSH) and continuity of Care for BSH Persons Served” and press release here. Read more coverage in CommonWealth Magazine, the Boston Globe, and the Boston Herald.