28/11/2011 Inside Out Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

We apologise for the lack of subtitles.

It is not full of monsters. People like to think it is full of

monsters. Rampton Hospital is nearly 100 years old and has high

security. Because it is a long time since any TV crew was allowed in,

they are taking no chances. This is definitely the most stringent

checking but I have experienced. This is definitely the most Ket I

have had to take guard. I asked about the sound man's cupboard he

did kick. You could Plutarch or false. There is restricted. Some of

these patients are highly ingenious. I was told the attack could be told

to make key impressions and solitude could become a garotte.

This man Newsbeat loses to make a makeshift ladder. The reason for

been you fences to make sure this does not happen. All of that cost

�25 million and includes a vast network of 900 CCTV cameras that

monitor every move the patient has made. I notice there are CCTV

cameras along the corridor? They are an integral to the security of

the ward. No camera in here? not in bedrooms. It is felt that we

check the well-being of patients a minimum of every half-hour and

actually, the intrusive nature of CCTV into a bedroom mean we made a

decision not to put into bedrooms. What is it like arriving at this

grim and daunting place for the first time's --? It is scary

because I was only young when I came. You said there and at the

start you do not know what to expect. You think you might have to

defend yourself and it would cause problems. If you are already

suffering from problems, you do not suffering from problems, you do not

want that kind of thing on top of it because it will make it worse.

Gary was just 18 when he was transferred to run to and from a

young offenders' institution. He was a violent road user and

initially put in seclusion and carted around the clock. Rampton

has housed some of the country's notorious killers including Ian

Hartley. Gary found some of these infamous penchant kind and helpful.

I came here and some of them took me under their wing. That must have

been a surprise? It was, yes. Some people have done nasty crimes and

bad things. Mental illness is a funny thing. It can make you do

strange things, but you wouldn't normally do. In our short time

inside Rampton we saw no at breaks of violence. You certainly feel the

threat of it. That is something the start are aware of. -- staff. If

they have an argument with someone instead of trying to negotiate,

they resort to violence. Here, we tried to show them how to negotiate

and use certain skills to deal with certain situations. Sometimes I get

letters from patients saying thanks for what we have done. It is very

rewarding when you you're such things, knowing that you are part

of a system that helps to improve a person's behaviour. There are no

longer involved in crime and at some stage, they will go out and

contribute to society. That is not the first time you will hear people

talking about hope and the prospect of leaving. You have to keep

reminding yourself that these patients are here because they pose

a danger to others and themselves. No more so than here in the peaks,

a unit for men wife personality disorders. The rooms are sparse but

designed with fittings and furniture. Everything is the third

safe. The beds, tell us about the mattress. The mattress is covered

in a material similar to that on a bouncy castle. It is designed to

resist tearing, he took. More interesting is the base of the bed.

It is designed moulded glass fibre, designed to withstand damage and

attack but also, important to ride a decent and cuttable might's sleep.

Even Miss Peggy is important? Designed to be entirely nature. Any

pressure and it will bend. Keeping 326 patients save takes a lot of

staff. Nearly 2000 work here. The clocking on in the morning is

something to behold. Everyone has to undergo the same rigorous

security checks day-in and day-out. The list of prohibited items is

long. They will even take your chewing-gum. The work is highly

valued, even by those they thought they would never be seen dead in a

place like this. I never envisaged working here. If you had told me I

would be working here eight years ago I would have laughed at you.

The prospect of working with what he thought would be monsters was

not attractive but now, David teaches computer skills. Amongst

these danger -- dangerous men, he has discovered a poet. What is your

latest 1? It is about searching for When you build working

relationships with these people, you get to see some snippets,

little moments, of their struggle. It puts things into context. It is

very, very easy to blame an individual for something but when

you look far beyond that aspect, there are usually other moments in

their life. There have been opportunities to stop that

developing, which society has missed. As you navigate the

labyrinth of locked doors and corridors, you get used to decide a

single patients being escorted by groups of staff. Both prison

inmates -- most inmates are not guarded this closely. There are six

times more patience -- staff to patients in Rampton a man in your

average jail. This is not a prison. They keep telling us this and have

been doing so for a long time. is a Rampton, target of intense

criticism. They invited us to make a film report so that all of the

world might see for itself. There is a conception that Ranson is a

prison. It is not, it is a mental hospital. It struck me when I saw

it, I see as problems today of how people perceive us. The

misperception that this is a prison where the bad and mad are banished

still persists. No doubt helped by a TV expose 30 years ago. It

revealed brutal treatment of patients by staff. He used to kick

came between the legs of hobnail boots. There were five of them got

stuck into him and one man was standing on his head. They twisted

the tie on one side underneath his ear and they kept twisting until

the patient's face went purple. film caused a big stir and

triggered use changes inside Rampton. It led to a change of the

culture of the management systems in high security hospital. That has

led to an improvement into the culture going into the 21st century

of the trip and that has happened. The hospital has been thoroughly

modernised. It costs �100 million a year to run this place. It is

�200,000 -- �2,000 a week to care for each patient. I would want each

person to have the best treatment and accommodation and that is the

standard that I said. That is what his mother expects as well. Every

three weeks, she makes the long journey to visit her son. I have

been coming here for well over 10 years. It takes me three hours

there and three hours, a long day. It is a hospital, not a prison. It

is very daunting to see people walking about with walkie-talkies

where you go. Every door has to be unlocked and locked. It began with

a police dawn raid on her home. can still hear them breaking down

the front door. What seemed like on 100 people dressed in white suits,

wandering around every conceivable place in my house, looking for what

I believe with evidence. My son was not aware of what he had done. He

was in the midst of a psychotic episode. In that one psychotic

episode, Mary's some cost three generations of family terrible loss.

My son was betrayed as a monster, a maniac, who needed to go to prison

with the key thrown away. He was my flesh and blood. My life was

threatened, my house was broken into, my car was damaged. I had to

leave my home for six months. I did not live there. My nearest

neighbour took care of my house for me. I had to rely on friends and

there are some who do not know where my son is. Today, we are

going to talk about communication and self-esteem cycles. Of course,

the families of victims endure a life sentence of suffering and may

well struggle to accept treatment given to those who cost so much

hurt. Had a wee bit Robert FE this? Frustrated. Are all patients

treated? -- treatable? It may be that they have to live with some

aspects of their enormous that cannot be changed as much as other

parts but the challenge is to try and make sure that carers and

relatives as well as the individual feel that someone is making

progress and that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I was

depressed. I was crying and hitting myself and other people. I did not

want to lead. Now, I have gone through all of the rough to get to

this move. I have come on massively with the clinical team. I would not

be at this stage now if I stayed in prison. I want to get out and live

my life. I am only 23. I have been locked up since about 14, in and

out. One of the psychiatrists who assessed my son said to me, one day,

you will get your son back. One day, you will see your son and that day

is really coming and I live in hope for that day. I think it is really

important to give hope. Increasingly, we are offering a

message about recovery. That is not just in terms of symptoms from

illness but in terms of getting their life back. Many of the

patients are brilliant artists. They are skilled in would work but

have never had opportunities to do it. It is wonderful to see they can

produce these items and they are so pleased with themselves as well. It

is something that they have probably never, ever done before.

Chris has been inside Rampton for 20 years. He feared it could be a

lot longer but man, art has held with his recovery and chances of

moving to a less secure hospital. When you are doing a picture and

look at it and think, you've done that, the sense of achievement you

feel boosts your confidence. It makes you want to do more.

critics of Rampton say it has gone too soft. More like a holiday camp.

There is even a swimming pool, a gym, playing fields and Sky TV

would of the sports channels. certainly not a holiday camp. How

would you like to live on a ward full of people who have committed

via -- violent offences? That is not holiday. It is not my idea of a

holiday camp. I think people have to come and see it themselves. It

is not my fault lines or Florida or whatever. There are a lot of people

kicking off. The patients have their own shop. Something else

which infuriates those who like him Rampton to Butlins. It is hardly

sumptuous. What do you sell? Confectionery, clothing, poetry,

gifts. Everything, really. Magazines, CDs, stationery. What

other most popular lines? Chocolate and crisps. The use to sell

cigarettes? And we did, not any more. They had to ban protein

milkshakes because some patients were bobbing up their muscles to

effectively. We cannot send up anything sharp. Any chains are

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 40 seconds

behind the council -- any tens are We have some problems around

obesity. Some patients, you have to wonder what they will spend money

on, and they will spend it on sweets. That was not have the

obesity problem. They would be -- we would be much more comfortable

if they did not receive disability living allowance. After a few days

I thought I had met some really good natured men. Gary, who came

here as a teenager, Paul, the poet, and Chris, the artist. Then you

remind yourself that they probably carried out a despicable act of

violent crime. You wonder how the staff code. The often deal with the

offence charged towards the end of the treatment. What you are aware

of it all the time? Yes. One of the things about forensic Mental Health

is that you need to know as much about someone before they sit down

with them rather than starting with a blank sheet. It is always there

in the background. Be easy -- is it hard to divorce yourself from that

terrible things they have done? question of the terrible things

they have done is an assumption. Sometimes, terrible things have

been done to them. Some of the women have had massive amounts of

from in their life. We have to be very professional and say, my job

is to help this one moved on. help with the distress and our aim

is to help them deal with deftly with it. We met Tina, who has been

here eight months. Live with an alcoholic partner pushed her over

the edge and she turned very violent. She told us how they had

helped her. They have listened to me. They made me have medication

that I needed. It stopped my disorder. I am pleased that I came

here because it has held me realise what I was like. It stopped me from

getting worse. It is building me up to be a complete person without

problems that I had. Just a few miles from the hospital is the

village of Rampton and at the back of the churchyard is a collection

of simple tombstones. They belonged to the patients who lived and died

at the hospital, unvarnished and forgotten. Now the average patient

is dated eight years and some start a new life. -- stays eight years.

Outside the perimeter fence with me is Bill. He excelled at painting

and is now studying fine art at university. Incredible, considering

what he was like when he first came here. I got arrested for stabbing

somebody. It was quite horrific, really. I stabbed him a number of

times and/Thame head-butted him and bit him. -- slashed him. Bill first

put up violence but then responded well to treatment. I came here with

a violent past. Yeah were a monster? I would not say a monster.

I was not a monster. I wasn't the best behaved patient that Ranson

has ever had. -- Rampton. I took that was on a plate for me. What

does it feel like to be on the outside of the fence? Much better

on this side. It is the satisfaction that I can stand here

on the outside looking in. This place meant a lot to me. It worked

for me. There are some very good stuff here. For those on the brink

of leaving, it can be traumatic. You have been here 20 years, what

It will be scary but these are the challenges I look forward to now.

Before the pain was too strong. That fear of leaving is even harder

to express if you are deaf. I have brought some of these pictures and

I wondered if you wanted to tell me about him. There are nine patients

on the death Ward. Learning to sign has given them a voice and help to

ease their anger. -- death. Paul is about to move on. It is about

working creatively it to help them move on and learn more about him.

Hopefully, because he has been here a long time, we're at hoping to

move him on. I am walking up to the edge. A man has come up behind me

and is saying no, do not do that. There is something in Paul's

process about wanting to stay, wanting to leave, of what will it

be like out there, will he get support? All the mixed emotions.

is the end of the day and me begins her up long journey back home, full

of hope that one day her son will move on. The emotional strain and

the travelling, after 10 years I do feel it is taking its toll. I am

tiring of the journey. But I just keep the vision of knowing that one

day I am going to get my son back. We sometimes say, hate the sin and

forgive the Senna. I only hope and pray that society can forgive. --

Senna. Unsurprised and they, they're pretty big on forgiveness -

- forgiveness at the hospital chapel, where all faiths are

welcome. I believe that got is able and willing to forgive. And I

appreciate the sentiment of what that mother said, but I do

recognise that for people who have been wronged against and four who

forgiveness is very difficult, it is often hard to separate the

person and the action. After just a few days here, you can believe

everything here is rose. Even the patient's Festival patch is

enjoying a good crop this year. This is our horticultural area. It

is a really popular activity as you might imagine. So, before we left,

this seemed like a good time and place to finally question the man

who runs the place. For all the top of forgiveness, cheaper and

recovery, do not the public simply want his patients locked up with

the key thrown away? I think it is a very interesting question. It is

ultimately a philosophical question, of whether you want to treat people

humanely. I believe that the vast majority of our patients have had

really poor deal -- poor deals in life. One in four of the population

has a mental health problem at some point, and the people who are in

these hospitals are someone so children, or parents, or brothers

or sisters, I do not know what causes people to end up in

hospitals like this but it could happen to anyone and I think that

is why you do not lock them up and throw away the key. I believe that

by treating them humanely, you'll get them to behave in different

ways. John Holmes with that exclusive look behind the scenes at

Rampton. If you want to contact us about the story, you can on the

details below. That is it all for this week's Inside Out, thank you