Harassment and violence have become routine at Tewksbury’s overburdened psych hospital, workers say

The problems are not unique to the Tewksbury facility, said people familiar with the hospital’s operations, but rather are emblematic of an already stretched state mental health system that in recent years has been further strained by an influx of patients arriving through the criminal justice system. Waits for inpatient care at DMH facilities soared from 35 days in 2015 to 293 days in 2021 , according to a report the Department of Mental Health issued in April. At Tewksbury Hospital, one of five residential psychiatric facilities run by the...