The Tampa Bay Times and Sarasota Herald-Tribune have launched an investigative series on the violence in Florida's state-funded mental hospitals. According to the investigation, violent attacks have doubled in the state's biggest hospitals over the past six years. Despite complaints of staff shortages, state lawmakers and the Department of Children and Families continued reducing budgets and staff.
How $100 million in cuts created chaos in Florida's mental hospitals Over the past five years, at least 15 people died after they injured themselves or were attacked by other patients. One man with a history of suicide attempts jumped off the eighth floor of a parking garage. Another was stomped to death because no one separated him from rivals even though they had beaten him up the night before.
