Revealed: autistic patient who’s been locked in State Hospital for over 33 YEARS
AN autistic patient has been locked up in Scotland’s State Hospital at Carstairs for 33 years, we can today reveal.
The man, in his mid-fifties, has been held in maximum security for more than half his life, sparking further criticism of the ‘scandalous’ detention of autistic people at the Lanarkshire hospital, which is surrounded by a triple security fence and houses some of Scotland’s most dangerous offenders.
Previously, authorities at Carstairs said the longest period someone with autism had been held there was 17 years.
However, they have now admitted this was ‘not accurate’ after our investigations found that one such patient has, in fact, been held for almost double that period.
Figures obtained by The Scottish Mail on Sunday show five patients at the hospital have autism, out of a total of just more than 100, with the longest-serving, a man whose identity we are not disclosing, locked up there for 33 years.
The data also reveals the autistic patients have been held an average of more than ten years each.
We can further disclose that last year it cost an average of £343,000 to house each patient at Carstairs, Scotland’s sole maximum security hospital. The Scottish Mail on Sun day has long campaigned for an end to the detention of people with autism in such units, highlighting cases including Kyle Gibbon, 35, who has been in Carstairs for 13 years, and 25-year-old Gordon Hughes, held since 2017.
During one ‘restraint’ involving staff there, Mr Gibbon’s arm was broken and he required medical treatment that involved inserting 45 staples and two metal plates.
He went into Carstairs with no criminal record but now has one following a conviction for assault on a staff member, which happened during another restraint in 2016.
His mother Tracey said she is appalled to learn an autistic patient had been held for three decades.
She said she longed for the day her son is released and believed he could happily live in the community at a fraction of the cost.
She added: ‘Carstairs is not geared up to help anyone with a learning disability and autism to move on.
‘People often do not speak out due to the stigma attached to the State Hospital.
‘They have all the power and we mothers have none.’
Mr Hughes’ mother Ruth, who has been stopped by the hospital from having any contact with her son after she spoke out about his case, told how he was only sent to Carstairs under ‘exceptional circumstances’ as there were no beds available at lesser secure units.
Once there, however, he was given a diagnosis of schizophrenia, which his family strongly disagree with, and placed on a restriction order, which means he can be held there indefinitely.
Ms Hughes said: ‘The fact that a person with autism has been in Carstairs for 33 years chills me to the bone. It is shocking.
‘Gordon has deteriorated, not improved, in there and we would dearly love for him to be released.’
Tory MSP Alexander Burnett, cofounder of Holyrood’s cross-party group on autism, said: ‘It’s scandalous an individual with autism is in secure care like this for 33 years.
‘Carstairs is no place to support such people and locking them up there causes further deterioration. Families are torn apart by the lack of support for people with autism and these figures show how broken the system is.’
Scottish Autism chief executive Dorry McLaughlin said: ‘Autistic people can tragically find themselves trapped in hospital when alternative, more appropriate, environments are not properly planned for and resourced.
‘It is not, and never has been, acceptable for any individual to be deprived of their liberty on the basis that they are autistic.
‘We are operating in an environment where not enough is being done to ensure the support services which autistic people need, to be able to live as autonomously as possible in the community, are funded and available.’
The State Hospital has stated no patients are admitted solely with autism, and will have further conditions, such as schizophrenia.
A spokesman said: ‘We cannot comment on individual patients. However, no one has been admitted solely because they have autism or an intellectual disability.
‘The average length of stay is 8.5 years. However, there is a wide range of people in for much shorter periods and much longer periods.
‘There are people we do everything we can to help progress but due to the nature of their impairment they are more long term. They need the high secure setting to have the treatments they need while maintaining public safety.’
‘Carstairs is no place to support such people’