Camarillo State Hospital Target of Investigation

A team of investigators from the state auditor general’s office is combing through records and talking to patients this week at Camarillo State Hospital to determine if mentally retarded children there have abused each other, as they reportedly did at a state hospital in Sonoma.

Hospital officials say the probe is part of a statewide investigation and are confident that Camarillo has no similar problems.

“I’m confident that we’re doing fine,” said Myron Dimmett, Camarillo’s standards compliance coordinator.

But an aide to state Sen. Dan McCorquodale (D-San Jose) said Thursday that abuse among mentally retarded patients appears to be widespread in state institutions and that legislators are expecting to find violations at virtually every facility.

“The system is rife with problems,” said Peggy Collins, legislative coordinator for McCorquodale. “These kids have been physically abusing themselves and each other. There are kids who have been beaten up and no one knows what happened.”

Once the auditor general’s report is completed, it is expected to be the impetus for legislative change, Collins said. “This is going to be a major issue,” she said.

Assemblyman William Filante (R-Greenbrae) said legislators hope that the audit will clearly define how state and local agencies should be spending their money to better serve mentally retarded children.

“We want to look at apportionment of money,” Filante said. “We should put our money where our mouths are and try to do the best we can.”

The issue at the Sonoma Developmental Center arose last October when a group of parents complained that their children had been beaten and sexually molested by other patients and routinely deprived of programs mandated by law.

Several parents complained that their children had multiple bruises, and one person said a child was restrained and placed in a closet at the Sonoma facility. Some also complained that their children had been neglected because of understaffing.

Officials with the state Department of Developmental Services repeatedly have denied that the abuse occurred.

“Our position is the same,” said Greg Sandin, spokesman for the developmental services department. “We deny those charges.”

But, according to Collins, the center has recently implemented changes to address the alleged problems.

For example, she said, violent children are no longer housed with frail children.

“The situation has improved there,” she said.

According to Collins and other state officials, the problems at Sonoma started after several private facilities were closed and the patients--many of whom were violent--were sent to the state institution.

Sonoma was not prepared to handle the influx of aggressive patients, who consequently were mixed with the weaker children, officials say.

“You almost need a one-on-one treatment for those type of patients,” said Joanne Hussey Bovee, chief of staff for Assemblywoman Bev Hansen (R-Santa Rosa).

Shortly after the reports of abuse surfaced at Sonoma, several legislators requested that the auditor general’s office conduct an investigation of all seven of the state facilities for the developmentally disabled.

“We believe that Sonoma was not an isolated incident,” Bovee said. “That’s why we asked for the audit. Basically it’s a performance audit to figure out how we can do things better.”

Kurt Sjoberg, acting state auditor general, said the report should be completed after the first of the year.