Broadmoor: The High-Security Institution | Two-Part Documentary | True Lives

Broadmore a word that makes people shiver most thing of Broadmore is a prison in fact it's a high secure psychiatric hospital and home to some of the country's most dangerous and violent [Music] offenders after 5 years of negotiation and for the very first time the hospital has allowed cameras in to meet the men who live Behind These [Music] [Applause] Walls BR M's got all this bloody history about people being all these monsters here basically but can be violent but that don't make you a bad person because sometimes you don't you're not intending it hello Bravo 10 going to the Phoenix with es radio over the easiest reaction in the world is to see somebody that has committed something atrocious label them as evil want lock the door and throw away the key I've probably actually never said the words of what I've actually done I've never admitted it it's still just a blur in my head I got born into a satanic family very very violent in some cases it would have been better to have killed me than to allow me to have this abominable life that I've had hi bro with unprecedented access and filmed over a year this series reveals the secrets of Life inside Britain's most notorious Institution [Music] Broadmore is perched above the barkshire village of crowthorne just 40 M from the center of [Music] London when people think of Broadmore they think of Ronnie cray Peter suck Cliffe Robert Nappa and Kenneth urin some of the most dangerous Killers the country is ever known the public pred this places oh that's where the yire Rippers locked up that's ra Kel's killer locked up Broadmore is an institution of lots of people but not all rapist pedophils or murderers there is people in here for self Haring in prison there's people in here for burglary who then to got ill in prison and there's people in here for very very evil things and the brushes allw the same brush which they shouldn't do [Music] first buil is a Victorian Lunatic Asylum for the criminally insane today Broadmore is an NHS Hospital over it 150e history it's been a secretive and mysterious institution staff are under strict instructions not to discuss patients outside the hospital walls thank much many won't even admit to working here close close family members know that obviously where we work um but if we're in a normal mainstream then you would you would probably say work in the hospital or something don't really talk about the place soon if you said that you worked in roadm You' just spend the whole of the day or the afternoon with a barrage of questions about the place so it's just easier to say you work for the NHS they're told not to share personal information with the patients either and to leave their private lives along with their possessions at the front door broad Moore's most notorious patients like Peter sliff and Kenneth urin have chosen not to participate but many of the men here have been front page news and are vilified by Society this is the first time they've been allowed to tell their stories I've done everything from taking hostages multiple hostage taking stabbings you know uh multiple assaults violent assaults fire setting set a fire in a hospital um Psychiatric Hospital the first one I ever went to um yeah is mainly violence so my my history is mainly violence broad More's 200 patients are all men suffering from mental disorders they're classified as vulnerable adults and only those who have capacity to give consent have been allowed to talk to us their faces have been blurred to protect their identities what do you like when you're not on medication I'm quite a nasty personally I'm quite violent or very violent in most most circumstances very antisocial I don't like spending time of people um paranoid I'm not very paranoid every every person is around them thinking what intention and I come like sometimes I come very close to attacking people cuz I'm thinking that they're going to do something to me and I don't want to get hurt first um I remember one time without my medication I spent I think it was like 11 months locked in the cell segregated due to the fact that was too dangerous to come out 24-year-old Alex arrived at Broadmore 7 months ago he was serving a life sentence in a dedicated prison unit for highly dangerous prisoners they could no longer would manage him I was younger yeah we chased a seag around my Council estate right with a box cuz I had a bro now on an admissions Ward he's been diagnosed with mental illness and personality disorder and put on medication one of his symptoms his auditory hallucinations he hears voices Oh I was doing a fruit sty the other day for an assessment had to make do this assessment for um personal motor motor skills is like for learning disability and um I was cutting a mango and I've never I've never used a sharp knife in the seven years I've been away I've not used a sharp knife and I was shaking literally I nearly cut my fingers off cuz the voices were telling me to attack people in the room with the knife and I was ging me into it and I thought I can't do that I can't do that so I managed to finish fruit the fruit salad and I felt wow like what achievement cuz most s mon most a year ago two years ago I might would have done it you know everywhere is dirty how must no I'm dirty though no we will clean it afterwards but we want to give you for now yeah this is crownfield the Intensive Care Ward home to the hospital's most acute mentally ill patients with me can we come in okay can we come in and talk to you sit on the bed for as any contact with them has to be carefully planned and executed this is a Sixers unlock the door to this patient's room can only be opened with six staff present man man there's always the risk of violence towards others you have to accept that you know they've got a chronic mental illness and they will be very disturbed throughout the day but you have to learn to work with them our focus when working with these guys is actually telling them that they're here not because of the illness they're here because of violence and they will only progress from here if there's a reduction in that violence so that message you know it might take time but gradually over a period of time it starts going through on this Ward even the most routine tasks run a risk of violence and involve a protocol this patient has asked for a drink just give us a minute she's going to get a car okay [Music] yeah thank you right know right I've got your here if you go sit down no the one at the back all right you need some more I've got a house here for you okay thank you thank you guys life in Broadmore can be a game of snakes and ladders with patients moving between the hospital's 15 Wards according to their mental state patients who are responding to treatment can progress to one of the hospital's assertive rehab wards where they given greater Freedom Daniel is one of 12 patients on this Ward I've been here 5 years luckily I never went to a high dependency Ward I came straight to a rehab and to be honest it's been I wouldn't use the word wonderful cuz it's not wonderful but I've been grateful basically to come here in my spare time I try and engage in artwork mostly this was the uh my first real attempt in an actual portrait all done completely in graphite and then I moved on to using charcoal along with graphite and the charcoal allows you to to have so much more depth in the tone or quality and then yeah I did a self-portrait the whole the whole picture was a statement about when I got locked up when I was 14 and I'm now 24 this is me at 24 but that's me back then sort of thing mental disorder is no respector of class or education Daniel was a 14-year-old boy at a mainstream school and no one anticipated the violence of his attack on his own [Music] family all of the men in Broadmore present a grave and immediate risk to the public and many have committed violent crimes from Arson to torture rape and murder unlike a prison sentence they have no release date I've been a bit of a conundrum for the psychologist and I've had about nine different diagnoses from 30 different doctors I've had seminars about me done I've had people wanting to write books about me just because of the unusuality of of my offense and my age and what happened I mean my family on my Saving Grace to be honest you know they they're hugely hugely supportive and what's even more amazing is that my offense was actually orientated against my family sort of thing so the fact and and what a lot of people see is that when a family member has committed an offense against a family member but they often just disown them sort of thing you know it's too much for the family but they they they've told me that they swore they would stay by me when they when when I was christened and they have sort of thing you know they've always they've always agreed I've had as purges one of the problems I have is I'm not very good at understanding emotions or if I have a if I'm feeling something I don't always understand what it is that I'm feeling but if I can draw it I can get out these angry feelings or all these frustrations of being locked up or guilt or remorse and all these all these negative feelings I I can Channel through this imaginative artwork or thing I probably actually never said the words of what I've actually done I've never admitted it after because I still I still get flashbacks it's mainly guilt I still I still struggle to bring it to mind it's still just a blur in my head and I've done such a terrible thing that's one of the things that I've got to come to terms with eventually is that I've done this it's happened and it will be with me forever we're not allowed to reveal the details of Daniel's offense okay um the only thing I was wondering about was I sort of get problems with fine motor control and spatial awareness things like that like bumping into things and dropping things a lot as you say it's not one of the most common side effects in fact the opposite is been Daniel is taking medication and undergoing psychological therapy these together with everyday interaction with staff are the cornerstones of the treatment here have you noticed any benefit I don't really know what it is I'm looking for I have noticed difference on you not over the last two weeks but certainly over the last 3 months I think that you have much more able to spend longer time with people on One to One situations Broadmore can feel like a ghost town patients can only move at certain times and in certain configurations and cameras record where each patient is at any given moment hello Aly the control room ensures that incompatible patients do not Collide patients who are well enough leave their Wards to go to work study and even once a week go shopping it's strangely like a village GS GS GS or nothing a shut up [Music] the freedom to shop is a mixed blessing one of the side effects of medication is increased appetite and many patients are severely overweight however normal it feels the reminder of the threat of violence is present Searchers looking for potential weapons are carried out before any patient movement this is stuff that we've retrieved from patients okay this is U just what used to be a CD and it's been broken up into shards it can be used as a blade even self Haring in fact we we don't use the CDs here anymore we've got spoons and forks that have been sharpened off on the edge so a normal teaspoon plastic spoon which is quite innocent to you and I has been fashioned off and and can be used as a potential weapon to stab and it's just an example of how Vigilant we have to be with everyday items I've done a lot of self Haring as you can see cut my own throat a couple times cut my throat about four times I think um funny enough quite it was about five weeks before I come out I hung myself and um there to do CPR on me in the cell you know know I was sexually abused when I was a child and that had an effect on my behavior on my mental state like I couldn't sleep at night and all the rest of it I was you know basically everything you go through when you've had a traumatic situation like I did I think as well that being is I said to my mom this feels like the best I've ever been in 10 years patients that come here they will perpetrated often horrendous crimes but they are also victims and it very easy to see somebody is either the perpetrator or the victim it is much more difficult to understand that somebody might be both train a training patients from different Wards meet at certain events uh first of all thank you for giving up your time because we know you could be doing other things and you have all different work streams and a lot of cre today is a diversity workshop and poet and lawyer Dave Nita is encouraging them to celebrate their different cultures inite you to speak about your own culture but before that we're going to have lunch but most of them are celebra in lunch with no alcohol to tobacco allowed food is the only thing they have free reain over my mom's Italian and my dad's from a little island in Africa and I like to say that me more cultural it helps you know and it's good it's it's nice to be different because different is what we need we don't want everything the same and that's it oh how do the end up in here um um they said I had they had a spare bed so I thought well I've been in children zomes I've been in Secure units I've been in prison only place I haven't been is Broadmore so I thought i' come along now 26 Declan was put into Care at the age of nine I remember the day my mom took me to office I sat there on a chair the next mon she just left she went you're not coming with me and the social work had come out she went oh you got come with me I went into children's homes foster homes I kept running away cuz I got abused when I was in the children's home by the staff sexually and physical and um I think it was like no one would actually listen to me I ran away to London and I was living on the street I you know what I mean I was living out of bins yeah not nice but when you're on the street you have to do that sometimes you know I mean yeah guys this is called think yeah it goes like this when you see a [ __ ] out on the street don't look down your nose so far you see your own feet when you see people homeless don't reach for a grou consider if you have the in to give them a room my Victim me and my co- defendant um basically stabbed them up the judge clashed under his torture as long as I know that I'm black from British and I'm proud of it and that's me you say you've got CH mhm got a little boy he's seven he lives with his mom don't really see him but I wouldn't I wouldn't expect children to come in a place of this and are you still on good terms with his mom um not really no I was started having a bit of a relationship with so yeah that was the first time I uh found out that I was sort of that way I was for some reason I've always wanted to be a woman I think that's the way I do know what I mean but in this place you can't do that allow it and uh I just want to say that I'm gay and I'm proud of it thank you I want to be a drag queen that's what I've done for a while what's she called Crystal what she look like blonde and just fabulous we've come to chipto a medium dependency Ward where Lenny wants to show us his artwork you do it in your room yeah I do it all my spare pens and waste waste pens and bits and using cups for shapes and bottle tops for to draw around how long have you been here 7even years this time around is it not your first time no it's the second time what you for that one that's the corridors in in W that shut down though so why are you considered a risk because I think my particular offense was against the consultant psychiatrist uh they call them SE section 12 approved psychiatrist and they're very powerful not like not like when you go or doctor they work for the home office he's not happy with life in Broadmore and tells us he's bring in a high court case against the hospital cost I how much what was the last figure cost to keep every years 300 £20,000 a year or something surely it's it's it's wrong to charge a fortune for people like us when it would be nowhere near about the settlers in the community it cost £300,000 a year to keep a patient in Broadmore almost five times the cost of keeping someone in prison before Lenny came to Broadmore he was an outpatient at a psychiatric hospital where he threatened his psychiatrist with a machete do you think you should be here or do you think I sound like a b b idiot cuz I think well no I don't think I should be I think I should be sharing this of my life with other people I I want to share my life with other people I want to be get up in the morning decide when I have a shave uh what I do when I do it and be reasonbly responsible for my own behavior un like anyone else out there and I don't think I'll be any more of a danger than whatever is already out there and I will be honest with you I am rude here I I can be really Furious and angry become you're the patients yeah that is a term we use to separate you from the rest of society we're the last thing on earth is the truth here to be given what you call equal rights what do you think do you agree or not I'm not any people I'm all for people downstairs on the admissions Ward Alex is Keen to progress I was 7 months I've been yesterday seven months yesterday taking forever are you aware of any beds coming up soon his medication has stabilized him he wants to move from admissions to an assertive rehab Ward where he'll have greater Freedom that I don't know you should know you're a consultant on there yes I I can't I don't know the time skines because it's not quite within my control back upstairs on cheptoo Benson the pat dog has arrived for his weekly visit Lenny's Behavior over the past few days is becoming a cause for concern he's been increasingly mad iic and hyperactive and his doctor feels he needs medication Lenny refuses to take it so it would have to be forcibly administered by injection meou me want you to be risk if you guys just this is wrong f you you guys we really need to get this started just please okay all right at this point staff tell us to leave the ward we're told we can see Lenny the following day Anil a key please make sure there the day before we were told to leave the ward when staff were about to forcibly inject Lenny with antipsychotic medication anyone down there he's Keen to explain what happened after we left come so moving to here he leads us into the seclusion area come in come in right well I was on here and I was first of all I was like that way I was laying like this right and I was trying to said please don't turn me over cuz I'm not trying to fight you and do they you're going to get the next thing happened they all came in they twisted turn me I didn't May a deal with them on the bed I was like this one point like all start beh holding me I was like that and I said would you please let me go and I'll get up so went okay I had to do stood there I took down my parents of and they sto me there let's see and I came out again that's what happened but I didn't what do you think so what's your opinion about that but did you so did you hit you hit one of them yeah but that's because I've been chased off here one of the biggest areas of conflict um between certainly doctor and patient is the issue of medication this is all sealed it's St here sometimes one of the difficulties with psychotic disorders is your interpretation of reality is different from other people's if you if you genuinely believe there's nothing wrong with you and you don't need any medication why on Earth would you want to take some of the medications that would be for discussion lifting into the area can we up this him please he's particularly angry for two reasons so one is he doesn't believe he'll benefit from the medication at all the second reason is that he believes he's involved in a major high court case against the hospital to expose a range of malpractice particularly in relation to him but in general about how these services are just really keeping people in jobs and don't provide any useful service the hospital's defense is just he's some of the most matous people in the country I'll show he believes we've given him the medication purely to dull his mind and weaken his chances of being successful in that case in fact he's not currently involved in any uh legal action or court case no not going in it all it's private I can't go it's private that's my mess my mess can you show look that my M that's my M and me shei put a black and white when 6 here he's a man who spent a long time in institutional care um in previous settings was frequently assaulted he was violent himself on several occasions but he was often assaulted you want to drink or anything coup you sure any speak sof thank thank you very much sorry to there are 11 other people by the way thank you very much Brant well done we just check to make sure all the Shadows are covered so they checked the first thing in the morning they again all the patients go back patients who are well enough to go to work can make Goods which go on sale to the public they're paid 80 P an hour Alex has been doing well and is now allowed off the admissions Ward to come to work everyone's saying oh yeah you're going to move you're going to move they said I would have moved by Thursday last week nothing to find out I've been on onto my psychiat say look why why am I still on an admission W after 8 months when there's a bed for me on r a bit frustrating yeah it's frustrating but I'm just at the moment focusing next week I got a visit mom and dad coming up for two days so you know spend some time with my family they have a saying here there's time and then there's Broadmore time which episode did you see last of east slenders last a week ago last night last night yeah yeah they show them the man who pretending to be Nick Cotton's own son no I didn't see it while medication can often control Behavior extensive therapy is needed to change it and that takes time I'm in the diary okay okay Estel Moore is the hospital's lead psychologist she's been here for 20 years all right I say just carry on with the violent offenders group what finishes in December okay right patients undergo specific therapies depending on their offense whether it's violence sex offending or fire setting understand on relationships and uh Border Lines no not Border Lines boundaries what what what sort of actions are safe and contained in relationships the sorts of things that you would do that feel like normal and safe relationship laughter laughter is okay so laughing talking sensible feeling comfortable of each other Declan was found guilty of a life-threatening assault on a man do I feel sorry for him no I do it again no no I'm missing the sun I'm missing surfing gravy chain grav chain Lenny has been on anti-yo medication for a few weeks he's had time to build up in his system now he's at the Depo injection the chemicals from that slowing down his reaction to the point where he has those few more seconds to think how am I going to reply to this and he will reply a much more man to what you or I would reply to something I could definitely empathize with them he hasn't come from a different background to me but he has come from different parents to me seems to be the case with so many yeah no I'd agree with that you you can probably see if you go back into um the lives of most of our patients you could probably identify them at five six years old and say I'll be seeing you later on and things like that he's all right my bu one day he's going to tell the truth as well there also the one that you have there originally on back over everyone is born with certain temperaments with certain predispositions to certain behavior and if you've been given a triple whammy of of genes environment upbringing childhood adversity substance misuse all of those different aspects build up to make the person and it's a long-term project of gradually putting somebody back together and making sure that they stay in that recovered state things have finally changed for Alex after 8 months he's been moved to assertive rehab it's better over here it's a lot better got a a lot more freedom key to the door come out when you want make hot drinks yeah that's right but it's not all good news as so often in the past he's in danger of self Haring he's had to be put on eyesight observation which means nurses have to take turns to watch him 24 hours a day my mental state Haven been the best it's not nice you know hearing voices and what have you but you know just got to control it that's all you can do not let it get to Dr R said I'm going to be here for a few years yet few years few years how do you feel about that I don't mind you don't mind no I'm here for a reason all right get better is it so that means you got to stay a couple years then so be it but but I'm getting there now you're getting there I have a blit M but at least at least there was no violence which is good we you should be proud of at least it shows that you're making you know more progress and then you see how Alex's mental state continued to deteriorate after a couple of weeks on the ward he did self harm and had to be moved back to a high dependency Ward we can on chepstow Ward Dr Lin wants to discuss a recent incident involving Lenny and another doctor I was saying that I was really pleased that they're now starting to track and find pedophiles in our society how pleased I was and that they weren't just ordinary poor folk that were getting nicked it was also people were important who were getting found out and I'm really pleased about that she felt threatened that I was saying it also included a couple of doctors that were Nick for pediophilia you're not angry with her about something in aort I was with her it was it wasn't directed towards her it directed towards the general idea of pedophilia cuz you know you know I a victim of pediophilia for nine years under the home office when I was a child myself and they've done nothing but um bury that fact because though I'm an offender I am an offender and admit that I'm guilty of the crime that brought me to Broadmore I threatened to kill a section 12 consultant psychiatrist like you are with a machete but I'm not guilty of raping myself well I think the issue was that you felt nobody here was competent I was I was being tied up right raped against my will alcohol shoved down my throat right pacified with with all kinds of medicines that belong to that person and not me so that I would be pliable and agree to having sex which I didn't want to do as a five six year old boy like N9 years I was in I was in in the system itself being seeing psychologist at the same time of being raped and nobody did a single thing to help me you're offering me therapy I'm I'm I'm not angry at you I'm not angry at anybody I'm angry at the people that did what they did to me we never recognize that I was a victim so are we agreeing that you're going to meet with David about options for therapy for you as a victim yeah thank you very much welcome thank you oh I've got keep I keep trouble for if I keep out of trouble for for for 12 weeks they'll let me work in the calf yes you think you can do that be hard but I I'll give it a try the the most challenging patients are housed here on Cranfield Ward any movement outside their rooms has to be carefully planned violence is always near the surface patients are allowed one by one in the yard for limited periods a patient doesn't want to return to his room Fu okay he's for a fire let's get it start did he tell his primary nurse Mo has already given him an extra 30 minutes it's a plan intervention to relocate him to his room because um his presentation dictates that he could toy do you feel he's B unable yeah very it's quite threatening and ver abusive at the minute yeah Mo puts on a camera to record the planned intervention in the event of any violence said want to stay out here I'm coming in more time [ __ ] off [ __ ] off on the Intensive Care Ward staff are preparing to move a reluctant patient back to his room from the yard [ __ ] release me [ __ ] release me man I'm going home and we are leaving six people so we need to go 1 2 3 5 six there a lot of people to yeah we'll take you down six of us will take you down we go because need to go home go home I'm trou need to be ready now we ready yeah turn around so turn around turn around for us right yeah right let feed that hand through there to me don't worry we do exactly the same relax relax relax relax relax relax bring hand to the side your hand to the back bringing bring outk the hospital has forbidden us from showing this restraint procedure even with the patient disguised on the grounds that he doesn't have capacity to consent his voice has been replaced by an actors [Music] [ __ ] well known for kicking staff the patient is asked to remove his shoes as predicted he lashes [Music] out the eight staff members get the patient onto the floor for everyone's safety they're outside his room it's back on the floor in a final maneuver to get him safely through the door take his ankles someone take the knees we going to lift him up okay once in the room the patient is placed on the bed feet furthest from the door then one nurse will keep hold of his legs another his arms and a third his head they let go and exit one by one the last to let go is holding his head and nearest to the door whenever Force has to be used staff take time out to reap praise started being very abusive and threatening are you okay cling his fist swearing the minute present in that manner you know he going to fight you know you can't predict these things we did our best to try and manage it but the most important thing is that everybody is safe and the procedures will follow very well and the patient himself is not hand or inj so that's it then guys back to our jobs that's it on average there are five physical assaults a week on staff including punching kicking throwing hot liquids urine and feces some are serious enough to Warrant the hospital pursuing criminal charges does that happen to you lot it's part of you know anyone any anyone anytime you know obviously you can see their state put a water their mental state is very unstable oh really un anyway it was well managed yeah cuz at times you can get serious injuries so MO is every day like this for you sorry is every day like this for you um every other day there are days when um the world will be very settled the patients are quiet will be in a happy mode but not all the time because them Interstate things to subsides a lot so you were right about him though weren't you yeah of course he's actually I am his primary nurse so I know him you know you can tell you can see it coming it's about knowing your patient we know all of them so was he complaining about how many of you there were there he was counting how many staff there were he knew that we ready for action you know in as much as they are mentally ill but they are not stupid yeah some of them they know exactly what they're doing it's kind of like prean that I'm going to get them and they'll look at the team to see oh I think this is a weak team and then they will go for a yeah patients like these on Cranfield can progress they will eventually move on to other Wards and with time even out of the hospital you watching football on Sunday the finals you watching it we'll bring you out to the activities room so they can watch it live yeah kid man Broadmore the world's most notorious High secure Psychiatric Hospital home to some of the country's most infamous offenders for the first time and after years of negotiation Broadmore has allowed our cameras in to meet its patience and show what really goes on Behind These Walls [Music] November 2 we're now at War you confirm that gives you four there please over I Shad at a lot of the things I've done in life and and the bad mistakes and opportunities that I've missed for a second I just remember bang hear and bang and and my finger pull in a trigger it's the worst worst experience I've ever had bore has actually been my lifeline cuz obviously you know when I was in prison I've given 6 months to live and I'm here 13 years later I thought oh no I'm going to the funny farm I said oh no mate I knew I was coming I had a feeling I was coming here Mena Centro more because they are suffering from serious mental disorders and many have committed violent crimes they are considered too dangerous to be treated anywhere [Music] else many think that Broadmore is simply The Dumping Ground for society's most notorious criminals a final destination with no hope of returning shall we move on he's here because of the attempted murder of his mother not terribly bright a weekly Ward meeting gives a summary of the kind of men who are kept here the last thing he did um was he took his MP3 player and took bits of took the wire from it and a ring a metal ring from it and tied it around his genitalia and he did that in the middle of the night and it's only when he was in real pain that he managed to tell the member of staff and it's not very clear why he did it sh good man in prison it became clear that there was something wrong with this guy Broadmore is home to 200 men each carefully assigned to one of 15 Wards depending on their mental state oh what say about him He's 33 index offensive murder he's got extreme kind of borderline personality disorder antisocial personality disorder he's in this hospital because in a medium secure unit he sharpened a hand of a toothbrush and trying to stab a member of Staff in the face patients identities have been protected at the hospital's request Cranfield is the Intensive Care Ward for the hospital's most acutely mentally ill patients the men here are unpredictable and violent and the simple Act of serving meals has to be carefully tailored to the individual you right chicken R yeah don't turn yeah food is here chicken schit thank you I didn't throw it what I didn't throw it three days on the TRU thank you one of the biggest misconceptions I think is that those that have severe mental illnesses or those that end up in a place like Broadmore are kind of destined to to to be unwell forever or to be risky forever and that simply isn't true the mental disorders that we treat are very amable to treatment it's hard to believe that men locked up like cage tigers and only ever allowed out one by one can ever progress but each ward in Broadmore is a staging post to their recovery done your breakfast mate breakfast time on Epsom a high dependency Ward the risk here is a little lower that's hot mate you made yet oh they'll be coming in a minute right mate patients here are allowed out to associate with each other with have plenty of staff and attendance com com come come on come out there yeah tell me what you want pull your up pull your trousers up yeah you need to wear TR put Simon cole up to the waist belted when did you like to clean your room Leanne McGee is the hospital's director whenever she can she comes back to the floor I love being on the wards I love seeing the patients I'm a nurse you never lose the this is where you want to be really you just have but just butter and your day goes much quicker it's better spending it with people that you're being paid to look after than sitting at a desk you know which sometimes seems somewhat meaningless but there we are right I hope that's uh okay Trevor yeah fine we com in your breakfast mate I think there's a difference between being mentally ill and not being mentally ill and I think if you're mentally ill and you've done something that perhaps you are not in full control of at the time you certainly Society owes you a break and I think everybody deserves to have a bit of Hope if you have no hope you're just going to give up okay enjoy yeah have Cofe live like a Italiano Italiano can I be rude and ask how old you are I'm 40 years old 40 yeah I've done 20 years 15 years here and 5 years in prison long time is it I was a I was a Child Soldier it's called Somalia somal land where you yeah when I was young I had my first AK at the age of 9 years old you know so was that AK-47 AK-47 AK47 is that a machine gun no AK-47 like a rifle yeah it's not rifle it's like a it's a gun you never seen AK-47 you never seen AK47 he's been on the way to uh be referred to C good good doing really well once to risk a violence to themselves or others has been reduced a patient can move to the greater freedom of an assertive rehab Ward we all have keys for own so star for got our override Adam has been on Canterbury Ward for the past four years stereo before that he spent 9 years in Broadmore in a high dependency Ward the rooms are quite small um about 6t by 3T and you can actually just about touch wall to wall toilet in there toilet and hand Basin the only problem we having the toilet in there is we've also got our wardrobe in there convicted of arson he was seven years into a life sentenced in prison when his self harm became so acute he was moved to Broadmore I had a very long history of self harm but when I was in the prison service it escalated to the point where I was putting my life on the line on a daily basis of cutting artery tendons but it's like my hand it's totally con straight and backwards because I got a wound here where I cut all the tendons and that yeah I had a very traumatic childhood the way I felt is that my parents didn't love me as much as they should have I was sexually abused by say people outside the family and because of the sexual abuse self har started taking place when I was about 8 years old um I started off with pulling out toenails and things like that um and I also started setting Firs at that age as well I just sort of grew up hating everybody hating Society hating life self harm was a way of me escaping all that I'll just do that turn it down I'll just light my bed like this I don't want the beat gets going I start that Adam's Broadmore Journey has been long with many setbacks but the end is finally in sight he's to be allowed out on trial leave to a medium secure unit 30 m away here comes the Box all is well the constant toing and throwing of patience on this Ward can make you forget you're in Broad into one but there's always the reminder that this is a high secure facility for men capable of violence when patients taken in turns to cook careful account has to be kept of everyday household items especially of those that could be used as Weapons thank you when I left last time I done a Dylan is 49 is his second time in Broadmore mate this is how Dylan remembers his childhood I got born into a satanic family very very violent um in some cases it would have been better to have killed me than to allow me to have this abominable life that I've had um my father thankfully he died homeless alcoholic so he he was the Bone Breaker you know he he broke my bones and leave me in the Artic and just that be it do you know what I mean so I had to learn pain very quickly I do watch that death Ro thing I didn't watch this week my father raped and beat my mother badly in his Twisted thinking he could raise a demon from some kind of Hell by raping on him in the way that he did um moment I was born she freaked out she said oh your eyes are evil you're evil and that was it she just tried killing me she made me cats food all the time she was keeping me locked up in the attic wasn't allowed to talk to my brothers and my sister and my mother she also like the sexual abuse yeah she was adamant at every single Avenue of my childhood was going to be destroyed and she done her best of that can I have a plastic spoon please I was pretty thin I steal my food it was fire that got me away from the home eventually by the time I reached five and six I'd learn the red match strike on the wall up my mother did to light the gas oven so I took a handful of them to school for the first time I was allowed to go to um kindergarten and I could smell the box of food you know the sandwiches and all that you know so I scoffed my face really big time then set fire to it no should go for a sift enough we got Dylan was in care from the age of s to 18 as an adult he became a homeless alcoholic IC an arsonist it was a violent offender lots of drug abuse and alcohol yeah unfortunately I've done some kidnapping a really nice couple of people I've never done any harm to me very very drunk a bottle of vodka threaten the police outside the guns on me if I didn't put the knife down I basically wanted them to kill me you know I want them to kill that wild out of control alcoholic inside me and I I was inviting them to do that and they you know they were very very bloody clothes and I just put the off down call it red it smells nice beautiful I might say so myself anyone think I'll cook everyone else Dylan psychiatrist is currently assessing whether he's sufficiently recovered for release from Broadmore can I just can we all wish a very happy birthday he's reached 34 today birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday de happy birthday to moving on from Broadmore is a slow process birthdays come and go with no set date for [Music] release Broadmore has 800 staff many have been here for years despite the daily risk of assault it may be a hospital but staff here have to have specialized training and equipment to deal with anything from enforcing medication to managing full scale riots it's unusual training for nursing staff [Applause] you going to come outu this team is deployed around 30 times a year administering medication and disarming patients with weapons not everyone in Broadmore is directly violent but their behavior Can nonetheless cause grave risk to others Anthony has been on an admissions Ward for 5 months he's at the start of his Broadmore journey is that your normal reading well we're forced to read out the sun of the M don't no probably I would have choose it it's arson that has led to Anthony's incarceration in Broadmore his mental health began to deteriorate at University when I was 19 started eating quite large amounts of cannabis res um start eating it yeah I had a glimpse of what I thought on cannabis were things that could solve problems for the whole of the world I became very grandiose I believe that the sum of the total energy in the universe was God and therefore you are God and I'm God and this bed is effectively God and then I was doing just bizarre and unusual things like climbing Bridges and surfing on trains and taking back to hospital cuz I drove past police car when I've been hired so but when you say you drove past a police car what's wrong with that on the payment oh anyway during that period somebody broke into my flat and kicked the door down and threatened me in my flat um and the door wiped me in the face after i' been banging here making music on the Windows i' been a bit of a nuisance neighbor uh but uh I didn't have a mobile phone after he left I barricaded the door and lit a fire in my window to try and get help sent to a medium secure psychiatric unit he again became psychotic and started a fire there this brought him to Broadmore he's previously been on preventative antis psychotic medication and now his psychiatrist wants him back on it my introduction to the mental health system with jab put of a medication that when you wake up you just feel absolutely terrible can't function can't communicate you can't do anything and it effectively makes me mentally disabled anony is refusing to go back on medication my doctor he's saying I'm well at the moment however he was sort of pointing out that thej and probably the public in general will not accept me in the community of medication so saying that I if if I don't get medicated I may never get out many of the patients here have a history of substance abuse often linked to their mental illness therapy aims to give them the skills to resist temptation so what we want to do is expose people to some substances today okay is it the real stuff though some of it is real some of it isn't so the 31-year-old Michael is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia he hears voices when I first started hearing this stuff I was about 24 it was amazing I couldn't believe it I had to run out the house cuz I was scared I mean something's speak into your head that's you know unheard of to me do you understand it might it might have been drug induced cuz I was smoking cannabis heavily at the moment but it goes more deeper than that smells real is there a face associated with the voice for you just something like my head nothing nothing it's like a living part in my head like a like a demonic kind of being you understand but now while you're talking to me has it been talking well it just called me a fool at this moment that it just mentioned it but while I was talking it wasn't saying nothing but then now he mentioned I came to think of it and he just called me and yeah I know it's hard to believe unless you live with it but just really just like having a conscious being in your head learn to live with it I'll take back to my room do nothing stay away from jobs right it's not good while medication has diminished Michael's voices it hasn't eradicated them how confident are you not to use an eight okay obviously I would like to be at the at the top end of this girl MTAR has been in Broadmore for 2 years it's been the most stable period of his life so far I've never seen my mom never seen my mom you know she's um supposed to be in America no you never seen her your whole life I've never seen her my whole life I've tried to find her but um that's the difficult part cuz I don't even know her full name [Music] [Music] MTAR ran away from foster care when he was 16 and became involved in street gangs and started selling drugs he didn't realize he was also becoming mentally ill I've had a lot of stress I had a lot of stress I kept on hearing voices and I kept on attacking people and I kept on being erratic Behavior a rival gang warned him off their territory MTAR says his drug supplier gave him a gun and told him to deal with them holding a weapon my first time and he felt like like whoa some extent it did feel like no that I'm dangerous now but on the other hand it felt like I'm vulnerable as well you know armed with a gun MTAR returned to the estate and my intentions were going to fire a gun in the air I was certainly run off but these people didn't run off chased me to the block of flats now I'm cornered they attack me hitting me with knuckle dusters one of them brought the gun like that and pulled it like to try and take it off my hand I was scared I was thinking I'm going to get killed there so as he grabbed the gun and he pulled it away from me I just remember bang hear and bang and and my finger pull in a trigger and man it's the worst worst experience I've ever had how it's just 108 January just 108 found guilty of manslaughter MTAR was sent to Broadmore under a hospital order I didn't know the place I didn't know nothing about it I was been told about medication and everything that I'm going to take I said I don't need medication after my first dose I understood that my voice start to reducing intensity and that's when I realized that look something is happening now no it was it was different it was different MTAR is focusing on his recovery and hopes to go to university someday listen it was a long time ago and I can't even remember how I came to the streets but I remember the older sh out when I switched on the other kids he's ruthless he's devilish he's a Born Killer if I knew what I know now I wouldn't be ruthless I wouldn't be a sinner forget that I'll be a born winner I got locked up at a young age it was a due to a mistake that I made but all is not lost cuz I'm here now I'm going to rise above the clouds I'm going to what is my dream a dream of reality so why you mad at me I'm just trying to be reunited with my family like everything in Broadmore getting in and out takes time and follows a strict protocol yes Alpha that's all s you're clear to move escorted by nurses Adam has been out to visit the medium secure unit he's hoping to move to within the next couple of [Music] weeks so we didn't go as well as I thought would uh oh the person who's beened I'm waiting for who should have had permission hasn't got it and Everything's changed and everything gone ticks up so there going to be no movement for at least two to three months Adam's been here for 13 years he thought he was leaving in a week now it could be months yes sir thank you November 5th clear to move 12 it's a big disappointment [Music] hello stranger how are you back today yeah I was told you you went back until the 12 really who say yeah it wasn't a very good day more I did the more depressed I got and I in the end I came in here and then I just ended up screaming shouting crying I started throw things at my daughter way to say look get in here now because I'm just about to do something but I'm still screaming and shouting quite hysterical normally when I throw things I get up pick the bits up and do something with them you know and I didn't this time so another thing it shows how far I come you mean you Ed the bits to hurt yourself not a normal thing to do 40y old fa he's about but I had to do what I needed to do to get my head out of that situation you know to show that I was in pain and angry and stuff like that wasn't but you didn't self harm I I didn't self harm that time which I got a lot of praise for if Adam does self harm he'll jeopardize his chances of transfer out of Brad [Music] anyway in Broadmore staff rely on knowing their patients well enough to be aware of what's going on in their heads they call it relational security this patient believes the hospital is trying to poison him hi hello how are you I was going to ask you the same question I'm very well just just the kick off there are several stuffff that I can smell a bad order coming from when they hand me something so can they use gloves basically that's what I'm saying depending what it is well anything no if it's if it's food stuff that that's fine but no they're not going to be wearing gloves you got Scrooge what else is on your list how they get my flannels a must give smell I don't know what to say to that I'm [Music] to be honest with you enough like You' had enough okay send every single day seeing doing the same thing seeing the same people day day out it's just Madness the thing is whilst we're here all they talk about is RSU RSU RSU every single second every single minute every single hour day year and year out the way out of broad is usually along a winding road that eventually leads to a regional secure unit or RSU they're found in towns up and down the country once you do get an Aro all they talk about listen you can't where you are you got straight to B so fres with broad then you come back to Broad ask if you can't Beav yourself you're doing well you're going to go f soon Simon has been moving between high and medium dependency WS within Broadmore for some years well always saying something about the difficulty of being here I justs I'm going tosc if they piss me offz last time I really pissed me off and I had to knock out some of them I made weapons as well I went in the office yeah I closed the door behind me I blocked it with with fing cabinet the door I just trashed the office and I enjoyed what I did I enjoyed it that's one of the reasons why me it by the [Laughter] way how are you I don't know what to say um been all [Laughter] right right I don't know been laughing all day I don't know what the guy laughing about I do find irritating at the moment that's rude there nothing funny about that you understand rude man come and behave yourself man this laughter is inappropriate laughter if somebody's sharing some serious things they might think you're laughing out then that's parano just got to be mindful of that a few weeks later Simon attacked a nurse on his medium dependency Ward his due to return to high dependency it's a step backwards so he's been here before you know him yes she third time back yeah but he likes it on here he likes the staff and he likes the structure so that's why he wants to come back so some days when he wakes up he'll he'll say that I'm Turkish today and then the next day he'll be Greek so he quite funny but yeah now you can have a laugh of him which is good he is one of the funnier ones of the crew right they're collecting Simon from the seclusion area in chepstow Ward where he's been kept since the incident get yourself ready to come with me in TR he's threatened to to attack more staff and needs the restrictive regime of a high dependency Ward job then Shake A Leg mate come on got your back the door yeah back to the door that's it be your back mate hold come back [Music] back it's a walk through 10 locked doors to move him to another ward in the same [Music] [Music] building we don't like to see anybody coming back but it's it's a quick fix I mean we getting back into the structure um restart him on his medication get him stabilized again then then I'm hoping that he will only back here for a matter of weeks and then we progressing back to Chapo and that'll be his pathway route better broad one dangerous wearing a tie no it's uh clip on tie so uh and triangle not allowed lighter for many abroad M's patients there's stability to be found in the strict routine of an institution it may also be the first time they've been looked after had regular meals and consistent interaction with other [Music] it's easy to be back there's no rules to be bad but there are a billion rules to be good well I'm learning I'm learning Dylan was a homeless alcoholic for years and ended up living in a forest foraging for food that was lovely he's been on an assertive rehab Ward for 4 years is he's hoping his psychiatrist will let him move on I do believe that you you continue to need treatment in hospital yeah okay in that respect um my view is that you still have a mental disorder um you know personality dis the thing is that the team yeah we do not believe that you need to continue this treatment in uh high security I'm still Cous I think I still believe that you need treat man in conditions of security yeah anything else then um no I'm I I'm I'm really just keeping it keeping I'm getting old now you know I I haven't got time for so what do you mean by old getting old anybody who's younger than [Laughter] me as to say goes I'm not the only gy in the village um I know who I am I know what I've done in the past you know I'm 40y old gay man living in a psychiatric hospital people can't accept that for what I am and that's their problem that's not mine you know um I just try and make lemonade out of lemon best situation out of a bad situation Adam still waiting for a date for his transfer to a medium secure unit hello what time is it the time is uh 25 minutes p 2 25 4 2 22 4 what's time 25 minutes past 2 two all right if you see if you say so if it came between you leaving and you taking medication what would you do well we' then Force medication what me personally or just as a team downstairs and still stuck on the admissions Ward Anthony continues to question his need for medication we want to make sure that the person that we're giving medication to needs it you're right I'm just doing the checks okay another big question wonder if at the moment I've got capity make decisions apparent Accord to the doctor do you think that mental health patients should be able to while they're well choose treatment I think one of the biggest cruelties of mental health conditions like psychosis is that often the first thing that will disappear is that understanding that your own behavior and your own thoughts are actually being impacted upon by your mental health you say that my risk to the public and without that Insight it is very very difficult to persuade anyone that they need treatment so if you can imagine yourself in a situation where somebody is telling you that you're unwell that you don't think so and then they're trying to persuade you to have a medication that might make you sedated or it might make you put on weight that's not an easy conversation to have with somebody we don't force injections on people just because we haven't got anything else to do that day sure there's lots of other no but there's lots of other things that we look in just like you do you agree that medication is forced on some patients just as a prophylactic just to stop them BEC I'm not agreeing to that side of it but it's I'm not agree you say that that doesn't happen I I am saying there are times when we have to give people medication because they've become a risk to themselves so because the mental health is is deteriorated but I'm not discussing other patients but disc can you walk with me so I can do make sure everyone else is okay Adam's got the news he's been waiting W in for his bed in the medium secure unit is finally available I don't want to let my family down I don't want to let myself down I don't want to let people know I'm in here I'm glad he's going it's nice to going and a way it's a bit sad as well because like we've been on the same War together for near four years so it be but he won beot stood by really on the bo I had my own problems on the board stood by there and helps me out and does a lot of things on there and looks after me you know and I try to look after him but he just drove me mad with CDs not that mad but it's his final evening and time for a last movie with his mate for Lopez is a lot of fils lately do you have to stay um outside in the corridor unfortunately yeah I will miss this place it's been my home for nearly 4 years I know people don't like us calling it home but it is home do close my door last night [Music] and his solicitor are attending a meeting to discuss his care and yes I was singing and I was argumentative when up into cision room then stripped forcefully um and then medicated I slept for um two nights and and all those symptoms have gone I think that's worth noting okay so you recognize you were psychotic for a period of time um yes yeah the conclusion that we have arrived at is that it would beo for you to have prophylactic anti conss is it um best practice according to that I'm involved within this decision making process I think your views about medication are very well known to the team why do you believe that I am so anti antiy medication well I know that experiened to be uncomfortable but uncomfortable uh it's it is torment it's uh it's uh the the the debilitating effect of not being able to communicate to be able to have internal anguish and uh frustrations and uh no longer be able to converse with the people that you love and you lose all your friendships you become isolated you can and then you've got the the the the the physical side effects you don't want to look good your hair your hair goes flat and greasy your skin gets away for you put on weight you get stary eyes everybody knows your own medication and to sum it up as discomfort I think is a little bit um maybe not I know that you are distressed by the the thought of medication everyone can hear that but the the trouble is we have a bit of a knack of spending so much time on that that we lose time to help you with other things and we need whilst hearing what you want to say about that because it's important not having that be the only thing we ever talk with you about his lack of cooperation is likely to prolong his time in Broadmore after a second psychotic episode Anthony started taking medication he's been allowed to move to an assertive rehab Ward every ready yeah for me please following his psychiatrist recommendation that he be kept in less secure conditions Dylan is going to a mental health tribunal to see if they will agree I have totally outgrown being in bore okay I've done my medication I've done my my groups I've done everything let's see the next stage now you know give me a little bit of hope so cuz I'm a one man bound I don't have family outside or nothing so if I give up that's it it's no one's going to pick me up and say well look come on unusually the tribunal is over quickly and with everyone in agreement well um I don't go in there expecting anything but I've been allowed to uh be conditionally discharged to an um MSU and I'm leaving 10 s's better person than I ever have been and that my friend is something all those people that done bad things to me in their past will never see I've broken the chain or more served its purpose I don't need you down more Adam is finally leaving Broadmore and Leanne the hospital's director has come to say goodbye goodbye good luck oh yeah all the best thank you okay yeah don't come back all right all right then cheers nice to come down I get too stressed out don't let this place drag you down see soon you soon see you lat right yeah take care good luck I'll give you that and I'll give you this I have the keying that's my own byebye do very well I think the're really proud of you we already don't come back all right best of luck yeah yeah take care [Music] take bye I'm going bye Adam is now on trial leave from the hospital in the event of an incident he could be recalled at any [Music] time this has been the first and quite possibly the last chance want to see inside Broadmore Hospital in its current form the lives of today's patients will continue nearby where a new hospital is under construction these old Victorian buildings have witnessed the troubled lives of so many over broad's 150e history now there's talk of turning them into a hotel w

Channel: True Lives

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Keywords: our life, documentary, world documentary, documentary channel, award winning, life stories, best documentaries, daily life, real world, point of view, story, full documentary, documentaries, real life

Id: i2JDSU5TCkk

Length: 89min 5sec (5345 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 26 2024