Massachusetts is Failing the Bridgewater State Hospital Population- Abuse and Neglect Continue
Massachusetts Disability Law Center Bridewater State Hospital reports continued abuse and neglect. Bridgewater State Hospital is failing—as highlighted in reports by the Disability Law Center and advocacy groups—due to ongoing abuse, severe sanitation problems, and structural oversight issues:
Excessive Restraints and Forced Medication: Staff and security personnel have heavily relied on illegal chemical restraints, forced psychotropic injections (often administered in riot gear against patient resistance), and prolonged solitary confinement (11+ hours daily).
Staff Violence and Neglect: Oversight investigations point to gratuitous physical aggression by security staff toward patients, lack of proper medical and mental health care, and substandard treatment for opioid use disorder.
Unsanitary Conditions: Facilities suffer from severe mold contamination (including in HVAC systems and lab tests), mice, insects, and feces on shower floors.
Department of Correction Oversight: The facility remains under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Department of Correction and private medical/security contractors (such as Wellpath or its spin-offs like Recovery Solutions) rather than the Department of Mental Health, maintaining a punitive, prison-like culture instead of a true therapeutic environment.
Advocates and watchdog groups have pushed for closing the facility or transferring full control to mental health authorities.
Brutal temperatures - Massachusetts Departmentof Public Health recorded temperatures as high as 93 degrees.
Staff hirings- No previous experience or qualifications
https://www.dlc-ma.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/8.31.2026.-DLC-BSH-Public-Report.pdf
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