State police investigating death at Ann Klein
TRENTON » New Jersey State Police is investigating after a patient died unexpectedly at Ann Klein Forensic Center.
Authorities on Tuesday confirmed the incident without identifying the patient by name, age or gender.
“On August 21, a patient was found unresponsive and CPR was administered,” Dawn Thomas, a state Department of Health spokesperson, said Tuesday via email. “The individual did not respond to emergency interventions and passed away at Ann Klein. The State Police is investigating the incident.”
“Per privacy rules,” Thomas added, “we do not release information on individual patients that could confirm their identity.”
A reliable source, however, identified the patient as Charles Fountain, a Newark man in his early 30s who previously faced aggravated assault charges in Essex County.
“He was a cool dude,” the source said of the deceased AKFC patient.
Ann Klein Forensic Center is a highly secure psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane. It houses approximately 200 patients, most of whom come from county jails or state prisons, and each patient receives structured treatment for severe mental illnesses.
Despite being an accredited institution, Ann Klein Forensic Center has been sued multiple times in recent years in connection with assaults or patient abuse.
The Trenton-based facility documented more than 350 substantiated assaults in 2014, and employees said the workplace became more hostile ever since DOH implemented administrative changes in 2018 that ended a former lockdown policy, effectively giving Ann Klein patients more freedom to jaunt through the premises.
In 2018, a woman was allegedly gang-raped by several male patients at AKFC the day after Thanksgiving. Prosecutors quietly closed the case without charging any of those allegedly involved in the brutal sexual assault, citing lack of evidence.
2018 is also the year when Ann Klein patient Dwayne Hester was indicted on aggravated manslaughter charges on allegations he killed patient Daniel Rodriguez, 55, in a vicious attack earlier that year.
New fears have emerged this year, for the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all of New Jersey’s state-run mental health hospitals, including Ann Klein Forensic Center.
Since Gov. Phil Murphy declared a public health emergency in March, the novel coronavirus has infected at least 17 Ann Klein patients and 35 staff members as of Monday, according to data posted on covid19.nj.gov.
As of Monday afternoon, no patient at Ann Klein has died from COVID-19, data show.
At least one AKFC employee, medical security officer Earl Washington, died from COVID-19 complications, The Trentonian previously reported.
Meanwhile, the tragic death of patient Charles Fountain remains something of a mystery.
State Police deferred to DOH for comment, and Thomas provided limited information and no clues as to manner and cause of death Tuesday.