GABRIEL ESCAPED FROM A HORRIBLE SANITARIUM

While this story concerns Romania, this happens in many Eastern European countries and also in Russia. One finds it hard to believe we are now in the 21st century. Apart from God, man's heart is wicked and has no limits to the evil it can cause. The below sounds like a camp you would find the Nazi's running.

From Evenimentul Zilei newspaper, Tuesday, January 10, 2006

GABRIEL ESCAPED FROM A HORRIBLE SANITARIUM

He had been tied with handcuffs. When he would see soap he would eat it. If he refused to work, he would be locked in a cage. He slept with two or three others in a bed. He received only pig slop to eat. This is what happened until recently, with the sick ones in a center for psychiatric illness in Romania. Earthshaking testimonies and photographs recreate this gloomy picture of modern slavery. All of this happened at Urlati, at the center "Steaua" ("The Star"), there where a director for many years, made money at the expense of the sick ones. On this sinister background, in1995, eight sick people lost their lives, intoxicated by gas from a defective heating stove. And for the picture to be complete, recently a child was discovered at Urlati who grew up for a period of five years among crazy people, without the institution that should have been responsible for his fate, knowing this thing. This is a case without precedent in Romania.

The center for neurological recuperation and rehabilitation "Steaua" is situated at the edge of the city Urlati (Prahova County), at the top of a hill, safe from indiscriminate view. Here, live 200 people with severe psychological handicaps, who were declared unable to live in society. Here also was, until recently, Gabriel's home, a little boy age 5. The boy was discovered two months ago when the Psychiatric Centers passed from the administration of The National Association for the Handicapped under the authority of the County commissioner. From January 1, 2006, The Child Protection Services in Prahova united with the neurological rehabilitation centers in the county under the leadership of director Gheorghe Curelea. Then began inspections which led to the finding of Gabriel and the dismissal of the director of the "Steaua" center, doctor Silviu Dontu.

I'VE NEVER SEEN A CHILD SO SAD IN ALL MY LIFE
"When I discovered the existence of Gabriel, it took my breath away", said Curelea. "I couldn't believe that something like this was possible. His mother, Liliana, is retarded and became pregnant while she was at the center "Steaua". The father is unknown. The child remained with his mother and was raised along with people with serious psychological problems. It is inconceivable that this happened." Curelea said that he was very moved by the state of this child. "I have never seen a child so sad in all my life. It is a deliberate crime for him to be kept so long in this way." The director said Gabriel has been visibly affected by the fact that he has stayed so long among mentally disabled people. "With all of this, he is as normal as possible. I can even say he has an above average intelligence."

BURSTING OUT IN TEARS
Gabriel is now in the care of a maternal assistant in the village of Magureni, 30 kilometers from Ploiesti. Viorica Cernica receives $160 a month to care for him. "Now it is better, but at the beginning he would cry constantly," she maintained. "Every morning he would burst into tears for no reason." The woman says about Gabriel that, since he's been with her, he feels much better and doesn't have the longing for his mother, with whom he didn't succeed in bonding very well. While he is speaking, the child plays with little cars. He avoids any contact with strangers. "Every time someone comes to visit," explains Gabriela, "he hides in fear that he will be taken from here."

LIFE LIKE IN A LABOR CAMP
Gheorghe Curelea says about the center "Steaua": "I found there a kind of extermination labor camp. I found things there beyond my imagination. People were held locked in a type of pen and it looked like a pigsty. A normal man would not be able to survive in that mess for even one week. I told Dontu that something like this isn't possible, that something must be done immediately. Every time Iwould go to the center to see what progress was made, I never found him there. When at last I found him, he told me he couldn't do anything because the employees don't listen to him. I told him then he must leave his job to someone more capable."

THEY WOULD EAT SOAP
The new director at the center, Marilena Gheorghe, also speaks about the grave situation in which she found "Steaua". "I've worked all my life in these types of centers," she said, "but I am shocked with what I have seen here. They were like animals. The first time when I gave them soap, they began to eat it because they never saw such a thing. The majority were undressed and slept two or three to a bed. The excuse that the former director used for the deplorable state of the center was a lack of money. I also know what it's like to not have the means, but every time I asked for something I was given the minimum necessary. Doctor Dontu, for example, didn't even ask for anything except one roll of toilet paper per person per month. In this situation, there isn't any way there could be anymore."

ALCOHOL AND FIRE
Marilena further said that she was shocked when she saw that in the storage room there were tons of clothes, but the patients were kept undressed in the cold. "But in regards to the food, the situation is indescribable. There were slops of food that not even a dog would touch." Marilena Gheorghe confirmed that Dontu kept his 'assisted ones' (the name used for sick ones at psychological centers), locked up permanently because he said they are unstable and dangerous. "Since I got them out of the pens where they were held, they are very peaceful. Not one of them has had even one manifestation of violence." Still, acts of violence did exist at the center. "When I came here I believe that I disturbed many of the people", says Marilena. "From what I can tell, the employees were much freer under the old leadership. Someone gave alcohol to the people so they would become violent. In the same week they set fire to three haystacks." The director of the center says that, now two weeks later, fire was set to a whole pavilion. "I was convinced that it was sabotage, but the firemen told me that it was because of the electric wiring. What can I do? I must believe them because they're specialists."

INSANE BOUND....WITH HANDCUFFS
The last commission that verified the situation at "Steaua" brought to light some earthshaking details. At "Steaua" there were rooms where in winter there were no glass in the windows. Broken windowpanes were covered with blankets. The sick were many to a bed, others had no mattresses and slept directly on the bare metal springs of the bed. The medications of those held in isolation were put in a common bucket and given with a mug through a hole in the door. The sickones were held weeks there. Meals were the same process. Some of the sick were held bound with metal handcuffs and were forced to work until they were exhausted.