Lawmaker to Christie: Fix 'deplorable' conditions at psych hospital

TRENTON -- A state lawmaker on Thursday called on Gov. Chris Christie to step in and reopen a shuttered mental health facility to alleviate reported violence and overcrowding at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital.

"I am personally sickened by the conditions patients are living in at Greystone," state Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex) said in a statement responding to an NJ Advance Media report, which found the Morris County facility had seen a spike in patient attacks and reached record capacity levels.

The report found the state's largest public psychiatric hospital saw patients assault 13 fellow patients and 12 employees during the first quarter of 2017.

Carl Herman, the director of mental health advocacy at the state Office of the Public Defender, said patients described the facility as "prison-like, with the most violent patients running things."

Read more: http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/08/lawmaker_wants_action_on_violence_overcrowding_at.html