A number of escapes and violent incidents in addition to widespread community concern led to a special investigation of the hospital's problems which ultimately resulted in a revamping of its organization, administration, and treatment programs” beginning in 1961.
"[4][5] A 2009 California Law Review article commented, "One reason for this appellation was that inmates [sic] were subjected to experimental therapies - electrical and pharmacological shock treatments in addition to lobotomies - to "cure" them of their "sex perversion.
[9] In 1976 Michael Serber MD (then ASH Clinical Director) coauthored a paper commenting: "The history of treatment for the homosexual at this institution has mainly centered around inadequate and sometimes cruel attempts at conversion to heterosexuality or asexuality.
In the mid-1980s, a US Department of Justice investigation under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) led to important and positive clinical reforms at ASH.
Harold Carmel MD and Mel Hunter JD MPA established the Atascadero Clinical Safety Project (ACSP) which conducted groundbreaking research into staff injuries from patient aggression.
[23][24][25][26] After Carmel left to become CEO of the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo in 1991, Hunter and Colleen Love developed important programs to improve staff safety,[27][28][29] which won awards from the American Psychiatric Association.
[32][33][34][35][36][37][38] Many clinical staff left ASH in the late 1990s with the advent of the SVPs, which was believed by many clinicians to compromise the hospital's mission of providing excellent care for persons with serious mental illness, as opposed to containment of sexually dangerous offenders.
In 2007, Mel Hunter, by this time ASH Executive Director, was removed from his position as a result of his refusal to alter the clinical operations of the hospital at the behest of the DOJ consultants.
[40][41][42] A 2018 law review article [43] reported that in 2004 then-CEO Mel Hunter had supported research showing that SVP reoffense was much lower than claimed: "This Article uses internal memoranda and emails to describe the efforts of the California Department of Mental Health to suppress a serious and well-designed study that showed just 6.5% of untreated sexually violent predators were arrested for a new sex crime within 4.8 years of release from a locked mental facility.
Three days after Hunter's removal in 2007, his successor issued a memo terminating the study and prohibiting the use of "the previously gathered data for publication, research, testimony, or any other purpose.
The murder came in the wake of federal court-mandated changes that reduced the usage of medication and restraints on patients, as well as a large turnover in staffing resulting in less experienced personnel working at the hospital.
Approximately 2,140 employees work at DSH-Atascadero providing round-the-clock care, including psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, rehabilitation therapists, psychiatric technicians, registered nurses, and other clinical and administrative staff.
DSH police officers are granted authority by the California Welfare and Institutions Code to enforce policies and directives set forth by the administration of Department of State Hospitals.
One of radio host Phil Hendrie's recurring fictional characters is Herb Sewell, a former sex offender who was remanded for eight years at Atascadero State Hospital.