A NON-VERBAL autistic woman was wrongly locked up in a mental health hospital for 45 years.
The patient, referred to as Kasibba to protect her identity, is understood to be originally from Sierra Leone and was admitted aged seven.
She is suspected to have been trafficked to the UK before the age of five and had initially been living in a children’s home.
At the hospital – which cannot be named – Kasibba was also held in segregation for 25 years and locked up sometimes for 23 hours a day in an annex.
A hole was cut in the fence outside so she could watch people walking by.
Kasibba had no family but after clinical psychologist Dr Patsie Staite learned of her incarceration she began a nine-year battle to have her released.
Dr Staite was just a rookie at the time and was carrying out a routine review of Kasibba’s care in 2013 when she first raised the alarm.
She told the BBC: “I hadn’t ever seen anyone living in the situation that she was living in. And I think what was really shocking was it was all legitimised.”
Dr Staite said staff described Kasibba as “dangerous” and an “eye-gouger” – but she only found one incident in the records that led to this assumption.
During an evacuation when she was 19, with a fire alarm going off, she had been disorientated and scratched another patient who approached her.
Dr Staite said the label “didn’t ring true” when she met Kasibba, a then-middle-aged woman with a learning disability.
She submitted a 50-page report to Camden Council, the authority in north London which had placed Kasibba in the hospital.
The paper concluded the patient was not dangerous and safe to live in the community – and in 2016 an “escape committee” was set up with its only mission to free her.
However, Kasibba’s release could only be signed off by the Court of Protection.
Lucy Dunstan, from disability rights organisation Changing Our Lives, was appointed independent advocate, and it would be six years before the court signed off on the release.
“I cried. Joy. Relief. Admiration for her. Pride,” she said. “It’s not about me and what we did, but that she did it and she showed them.”
Kasibba now lives in the community and is aided by support workers who engage with her using gentle touches and gestures.
“She has the most amazing sense of humour. She’s a beautiful human being,” her care manager said.
The Mental Health Bill going through parliament will prevent autistic people and those with learning difficulties without a mental health condition from being detained for treatment.
However, the Government has said it won’t make the changes until it is satisfied there is enough alternative community support.
People will still be allowed to be legally detained in hospital for up to 28 days for assessment.
Jess McGregor, executive director for Adults and Health at Camden Council, told Metro: “It’s a tragedy – none of us would want to spend so long in hospital.
“Kasibba shouldn’t have experienced this, but the fact that she did is what motivates us to continue working to prevent it happening to anybody else.
“We’re doing everything we can to avoid situations where people are staying in hospital for long periods of time.
“Where possible we’re stopping people going in and instead we support them in the community, in homes and in places they want to live.”
The Sun has approached the council for further comment.
GettyKasibba was wrongly held for 45 years[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
