February 28, 2000

Study Finds Abusive Conditions in Mexico's Mental Hospitals

A study of long-term patients at Mexico's mental hospitals has found that patients live in filthy, abusive, and dangerous conditions. The study, released February 17, 2000, by Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI), was completed based on three inspection tours of Mexican hospitals conducted from July 1996 to November 1999, and focuses on long-term psychiatric hospitals, known as "granjas." Inspectors found that from one-third to one-half of the patients are epileptic or mentally retarded and do not need or . . .