Riverside Hospital, Washington DC - Site of Extensive Troubles

Riverside Hospital, the largest psychiatric facility for troubled children in Washington DC, is being revealed in the Washington Post as the site of a number of sex crimes and other forms of child abuse. There have been many allegations of profiteering at the expense of the health and actual care of the kids

Among many disturbing details"

In June 2002, a 12-year-old boy was sexually abused by his 15-year-old roommate after Riverside employees ignored his expressed fears. In December, a 13-year-old girl performed sexual favors for an employee in exchange for snacks, carryout food and help in escaping. In January, an employee threw a 13-year-old boy against a wall and slammed him to the floor.

The same month the 12-year-old was abused, city monitors examining treatment and conditions at Riverside said they were concerned by the frequent use of psychotropic drugs to control behavior, poor upkeep inside the facility, staff turnover and a failure to adequately supervise the children.

Two former employees, including the former associate administrator, said that children were admitted to the locked-down facility even though they didn't appear to have serious psychiatric problems. A parent and a court-appointed mentor said that it was hard to get the hospital to discharge two particular children, even when they appeared to have improved. [...]

One D.C. Superior Court judge who sent children to Riverside in the past has almost entirely stopped. In an April 2002 letter to the city's child protection and mental health agencies, Judge Nan R. Shuker questioned whether it was a financial "conflict of interest" for the hospital to perform court-ordered evaluations of children who could end up receiving expensive long-term care in a Riverside bed.

The Washington Post has an extensive expose at the link. and this is just the tip of that particular iceberg.