Mental health facility for kids sued for improper restraints

CLEVELAND (AP) — Staff at an Ohio mental health treatment center for children illegally restrained and injured residents and failed to inform state authorities when it occurred, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office alleged in a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the owner of the facility.

The lawsuit filed in Ashland County against owner Olga Starr, of Columbus, asks a judge to immediately stop Starr from operating the Perrysville facility, remove abusive staff members and appoint a third-party receiver to take over operations until the center’s 80 children can be placed elsewhere.

A message seeking comment was left with Starr on Wednesday. No attorney for her is listed in court records.

“These youth were in need of treatment and compassion but instead were held down and traumatized,” Attorney General Dave Yost said in a statement. “There’s a clear line between therapy and abuse and that’s why we are before the court.”

Surveyors from the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services interviewed residents during three inspections of the facility earlier this year. The inspections were prompted by a complaint from a former employee about conditions there.

While reviewing surveillance video of restraint incidents, surveyors found gaps of several minutes in some recordings and could not find videos for other incidents despite log entries indicating they occurred in areas where there was camera coverage.

The Ohio Administrative Code details when and how residents at a mental health facility can be restrained. Children living at the facility are sent there by state and county agencies who have custody of them. They are not allowed to leave.