A metro Detroit group home for mentally ill patients is under investigation by the state.
Local officials forced it to close for several days after a fire.
They say it turned into a life and death situation because emergency exits were blocked. Video shows the exits were literally screwed shut.
Six patients and two staffers were inside on the day of the fire. That’s the state minimum staffing requirement.
They tried to put it out before calling for help. Everybody got out safely.
While the intensity of the fire was surprising, the location was anything but.
The investigators discovered Franklin fire and police have responded to 134 calls at the home in three years. Police Chief Dan Roberts says it’s off the charts.
“We have six other group homes we almost never get any calls from,” says Chief Roberts.
At Franklin Group Home --we're told the calls range from assaults to mental health to medical issues. There were two more calls just this weekend.
“We’ve even had residents that have walked away and sat in the middle of the roadway that we’ve had to corral up and help get back to the home again,” says Roberts.
But on February 5, first responders had never seen anything like this – preventable dangers: a window screwed shut, an emergency evacuation map that wasn’t accurate and an interior door that had been walled over.
But perhaps most shocking was the scene outside at the back kitchen door.
From the police report: It was listed as an emergency exit, had a chair propped up and it had screws to hold it in place. There were also two large screws that were placed just in front of the door on the outside, which also prevented the door from opening.
The owner of the Franklin home has an office in Birmingham.
She was not in when we went there, so we went to her home in West Bloomfield. She was not home either.
Three days later, she finally spoke with us by phone.
“I must emphasize, I do not condone any restriction of any physical plant or person,” Janet Patterson told us.
Patterson concedes many of the calls to 911 and police are from the six mental patients who have cell phones.
They cannot, by law, force them to stay inside the house.
Staff also calls police because, she says, that’s the protocol from the state.
“I must say it has happened more frequently than I would desire,” she says.
Patterson says with state cutbacks, the balancing act of patient rights and safety doesn’t work.
“Nor has the community been prepared to accept all of these people released from mental institutions. There’s a breakdown. The entire system is flawed from the top to the bottom,” she says.
“They’ve stated they are trying to address that, but in reality it doesn’t get any better,” says Chief Roberts.
We are told the state investigation could be done within days.
The owner says her internal investigation is still ongoing and employees responsible will be held accountable.
That owner used to run another group home called Briarwood in Farmington Hills.
A 21-year-old mentally ill patient walked away and was killed. A caregiver was with her-- and the state found no violations.
Her family did reach a settlement with the owner and it is confidential.
