"Mental health exec defends sex crime risk"

[WhiskeyGirl]

Milwaukee County's top mental health administrator intentionally houses female patients with men known to be dangerous "because the presence of women reduces the likelihood of the men being violent," according to a county supervisor's letter obtained by the Journal Sentinel.

John Chianelli, administrator of the county's Behavioral Health Division, told county supervisors during a closed-door session last month that segregating men and women would result in more violence.

"It's a trade-off," he said. "Putting 24 aggressive male patients into a male-only unit would increase the level of violence in the unit."

Chianelli's remarks came during a County Board committee called into closed session on April 14 to find out why there are reports of an increasing number of sexual assaults at the county facility, including the rape of a 22-year-old pregnant woman last summer.

The comments were sharply criticized as "deplorable" by patient advocates and county supervisors. They said they were offended at Chianelli's characterization that sexual assault is a lesser harm than other physical assaults.

"What a horrendous thing to say," said Mary Neubauer, co-chairman of the Milwaukee Mental Health Task Force and the consumer representative on a county committee to study more effective ways to treat psychiatric patients. "John needs to apologize for those remarks to the whole community."

Lawmakers and mental health advocates have expressed alarm in recent weeks at the accounts of physical and sexual assaults on the complex's four acute inpatient wards. Earlier this year, federal inspectors threatened to withhold federal funds until the complex corrected deficiencies that led to the rape of the 22-year-old patient.

Her attacker, a man described by a medical supervisor as "a very devious sexual predator," had been charged with multiple assaults, including another sexual assault. Still, he was housed in the same unit as the woman, where bedroom and bathroom doors are unlocked.

Chianelli defended mixed-gender units as a way to reduce the likelihood of violence by male patients against other male patients. He also conceded that such units at the Mental Health Complex "cause more sexual problems," De Bruin's letter says. Chianelli reviewed medical literature and found, "Going to gender-based units trades violence for sexual assaults."

The rest of the story here - http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/93210484.html