Georgia Gunning, left, and Judith Dorsey, licensed social workers who until recently worked at Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta (Gunning is on paid administrative leave, and Dorsey was fired), spoke out about the deficiencies at the center, describing a dysfunctional work environment that allowed patient abuse to become commonplace. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta
Acting superintendent Robert "Jay" Harper II speaks during an interview in March at Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal
A patient and a staff member exercise last week near the garden outside the Saco forensic units at Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta.
Jay Harper, Riverview’s acting superintendent since March, speaks with patients, as he leads a tour.
A patient hangs paper cutouts in a community room of the Lower Saco forensic unit at the Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta. A year ago, the state-run facility lost its federal certification and the $20 million in funding that goes along with it after reports of deficiencies.
Capitol Police and guards, rather than corrections officers, provide security at Riverview. The interim superintendent said he wanted to establish a more clinical atmosphere at the facility.
A nurse monitors a patient in seclusion in the Lower Saco unit at Riverview via a video camera. Currently, there are 79 patients almost evenly split between forensic and civil units.
The 20-bed Lower Saco is essentially a hospital within a hospital, a self-contained unit with its own staff.
Daniel Wathen, former Maine Judicial Court chief justice, tasked with overseeing administration at Riverview
Rep. Richard Farnsworth, Portland Democrat who is the House chair of the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee
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