Mentally ill and elderly people held in squalid chicken coop in California, $750 for 1/5 a room

[Liberal_in_LA]

Mentally ill and elderly people held in squalid chicken coops, authorities say

September 4, 2009 | 11:44 pm

San Bernardino authorities arrested a woman Friday who they say boarded 22 mentally ill, elderly and other people in prison-like conditions, housing some in converted chicken coops behind razor wire fences.

Pensri Sophar Dalton, 61, was arrested on 16 counts of suspected elder abuse, according to City Atty. James F. Penman. Some of the people appeared to have mental health issues, he said.

“The stench was pretty horrific,” Penman said. “These were very squalid conditions.”
The people were being held in dilapidated buildings, some without running water or toilets. The facility is not licensed with the state or the city, Penman said. Two milk box crates containing prescription medicines were found at the site. At least two of the residents were in wheelchairs.

Police arrested Dalton after going to her home in the 2800 block of North Golden Avenue to arrest a man with outstanding warrants for drunk driving, according Penman said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/mentally-ill-and-elderly-people-held-in-sqalid-chicken-coops-authorities-say-.html

Barbed wire surrounds the backyard of the home where a woman was arrested on suspicion of elder abuse.


Twenty-two people were found Friday living in chicken coops that had been converted into rooms as part of an unlicensed group home in San Bernardino, officials said.

Investigators found 22 tenants on the property, 12 of them apparently mentally ill and two confined to wheelchairs, City Attorney Jim Penman said. Buckets were being used as toilets in two 20- by 40-foot structures in the back of a home in the 2800 block of North Golden Avenue.

"It's really squalid. It's one of the worst places I've seen in a long time," Penman said.

-------------------

Next door neighbor Kevin Milner said he had considered renting a room from the home for $750 a month, which included three meals. But when he saw the conditions, he changed his mind, he said.

"I saw the girls' bedroom and there was five beds in there. She houses five people in that room for $750 a month. That's not right," said Milner. "I considered it at one time because I have schizophrenia."

He said the rooms in the barrack-like buildings didn't have plumbing. He also said that many residents there came to his house to do drugs and drink. Residents told him that the facility required people to be in by a certain time or they would lock the gates, and that he has seen people sleeping in the driveway after being locked out.

http://www.pe.com/localnews/sanbernardino/stories/PE_News_Local_N_elder05.49027b8.html

[47of74]

1. Ms. Dalton needs to go to prison for a very long time

And this is my message to her;

[roguevalley]

20. ditto. I fear people who aren't even afraid of God, if you know what I mean.

[xultar]

Are there mental health provisions in the health care reform bill?

[sandnsea]

6. Yes,

mental health parity is part of it, so far anyway.

[Ladyhawk]

15. Here in California, you can't seek mental health care outside your county.

I'm dealing with this and it's killing me.

[xultar]

2. Dupe

[mdmc]

3. Welcome to Ronald Ray-gun's America

remember always..

[cliffordu]

7. It was Reygone that opened up the madhouses and put all my people on the street.

So they could later be 'managed' in the criminal justice system.

I hope he's rotting, homeless and mentally ill on the streets of hell.

[mdmc]

11. worse pres in my lifetime

[TuxedoKat]

12. I remember that

There were few homeless people in the streets of DC before Reagan -- after he kicked them out there were many, many more.

I don't know if it is still like that there now, since I don't live there anymore.

[patrice]

14. It was called De-institutionalization. I taught about it in highschool general Psychology and it was

sold as "treatment" by mainstreaming folks and, thus, putting them in conditions that would not longer enable their pathologies and necessity would become the mother of psycho-social invention that would enable them to adapt and "get well". Of course, they immediately went off their meds and/or began to self-medicate again with stuff they couldn't handle, then didn't show up for therapy and counseling and were basically lost after that.

[cliffordu]

17. ...My grandfather died on the streets of Bellingham as a result and an uncle went

missing after they dumped him onto the streets of Napa, in california when the big state hospital was there....

[patrice]

18. Oh dear! I don't quite know what to say to that! So sad and horrible.

:cry:

You are to be congratulated on not being one very bitter and negative person, cliffordu.

:hug:

[cliffordu]

19. Thanks, but I thought everyone's family was like that - until I hit college and

learned that there were AMOST normal people out there.....

I just thought that kind of mayhem WAS normal....

[sagetea]

4. Those poor Elders...

what has become of us? This uncaring attitude has to stop!

[Hello_Kitty]

5. So this was some kind of facility?

Didn't any of the resident's relatives come and visit them?

[SoCalDem]

8. A few years ago, my friend took in her brother

He had told her he had a "place to stay", and she let it go at that. Occasionally he would visit her, but she had never been to "his place".

One day she got a phone call at work from his landlord, saying that her brother was sick, and could she come and get him..

...some back story....

as a young teenager, he had been beaten severely in a fight, and had slight brain damage. He managed okay by himself and it was only as he got older, that real problems started for him, as he lost jobs for losing his temper, or for not showing up.

He was put on SSI and got barely enough to live on, but of course he kept all this from his "little sister".

..............

so she got the address from the landlord, took off work and came to get him.

He was living in a small camper trailer in their back yard.. with no bathroom..not even any running water except for the garden hose. They "let him" use their bathroom, but he had to knock to get let in, since they kept the back door locked. They had an extension cord leading to the trailer which powered a fan, but he had no TV..not even a radio..and of course no A/C..

For the use of this lovely accommodation, they had him endorse his check to them every month. His check was 1,042.00 a month.

My friend bundled up what little he had, and he moved in with her.

She reported them, but it never even made it into court, since they did not hold him against his will, and the prosecutor, said that her brother told him that he asked them to stay there, and was willingly giving them his check..

[jwirr]

9. This is what happens when there is a lack of government regulation. nt

[Garbo 2004]

10. This outfit was in violation of both state and local laws/regulations.

They weren't licensed as required by law to operate a care/boarding facility and the living conditions also constitute violations. How they weren't reported or caught before this is the question.

[patrice]

13. They need some of these

http://www.ncbcapitalimpact.org/default.aspx?id=146

And enough staff to do the job right.

[begin_within]

16. Now we've found the perfect place to put Bush, Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld