[Solemn music plays, noises of nature in
background]
Narrator: Broadmoor, a word that makes people shiver.
Most think that Broadmoor is a prison,
in fact it's a high secure psychiatric hospital,
and home to some of the countries most
dangerous and violent offenders.
[Gate unlocking, mechanical noises]
After five years of negotiation, and for the
very first time, the hospital has allowed
cameras in to meet the men who live behind
these walls.
[unintelligible yelling, sound of something slamming]
[Running foot steps keys jangling]
[more yelling and sounds of a struggle]
[door slams]
[foot steps echo in the hallway]
Inmate: Broadmoores got this, this history
about people being all these monsters here basically.
But you can be violent, and it don't
mean you're a bad person.
'Cause sometimes
you don't....you're not intendin' it.
Over radio: "Hello Bravo one, two, and go.
Over radio: "One going to the
[ unintelligible] all radio. Alpha four.
Over."
Man in Tan Suit: The easiest reaction in the world is to
see somebody that has committed something
atrocious, label them as evil, want to
lock the door and throw away the key.
Daniel: "I've probably actually never said
the words of what I've I actually done.
I've never admitted it. Still just a blur
in my head".
[knocking on door]
Inmate: "I've got born into this Italian
family. Very, very violent. In some cases
it would have been better to have killed
me than to have allowed me to have this
abominable life that I've had.
Narrator: With unprecedented access, and
filmed over a year, this series reveals
the secrets of life inside Britain's most
notorious institution.
[Bell rings]
[Solemn music]
Narrator: Broadmoor is perched above the
Berkshire village of Crowthorne. Just 40
miles from the center of London.
When people think of Broadmoore they think of
Ronny Kray, Peter Sutcliffe, Robert
Napper, and Kenneth Erskine. Some of the
most dangerous killers the country has
ever known.
Inmate: "The public perceive this place as 'oh,
that's where the Yorkshire Rippers locked
up, that's Rachel Nickell's killers locked
up'. Broadmoor is an institution of lots of
people. We're not all rapist pedophiles,
or murderers. There is people in here for
self-harming in prison, there's people in
here for buggery and they've gotten in a prison,
and there's people in here for very very
evil things.
and it brushes with all the same brush
which they shouldn't do."
[loud string crescendo]
Narrator: First built as a victorian
lunatic asylum for the criminally insane,
today Broadmoor is an NHS hospital.
Over its 150 year history, it's been a secretive
and mysterious institution.
Staff are under strict instructions not to
discuss patients outside the hospital walls.
[clicking as items are placed on conveyer
and beeping of machinery]
Many won't even admit to working here.
Staff Member: " Close, close family
members know that, obviously, where we
work. But if we're in a normal mainstream
than you would, you would probably say you
work in the hospital or something. Don't
really talk about the place."
Staff Member #2: " Listen, if you said
that you worked here. Ah, boy. You'd just
spend the whole of a day, or the
afternoon, with a barrage of questions about the place.
So, it's just easy to say you work for the
NHS".
Narrator: They're told not to share
personal information with the patients
either, and to leave their private lives
along with their possessions. At the front door.
Broadmoor's most notorious patients,
like Peter Sutcliffe and Kenneth Erskine,
have chosen not to participate.
But many of the men here have been front
page news and are vilified by society.
This is the first time they've been
allowed to tell their stories.
Alex: I've everything from taking
hostages, multiple hostage taking, stabbings,
ya' know. Uhhhh... multiple assaults, violent
assaults, fire setting off. I set a whole
stammers a fire in a hospital. A
psychiatric hospital, the first one I
ever went to. Umm.. yeah. Just mainly
violence and whatnot. My history is mainly
violence".
Narrator: "Broadmoors 200 patients are all
men suffering from mental disorders.
They're classified as vulnerable adults
and only those who have Capacity to
Give Consent have been allowed to talk to
us.
Their faces have been blurred to
protect their identities
[Door closing]
Female Voice: "What are you like when
you're not on medication?"
Alex: "Ummm...I'm quite a nasty
person. I'm quite violent, I'm very
violent in most-most circumstances. Very
antisocial. I don't like spending time
with people. I'm paranoid. I'm, uh, very
paranoid. stammers Every person around,
I'm thinking 'what's their intention?' I
come to that, sometimes I come very close
to attacking people because I'm thinking
that they're going to do something to me
and I don't want to get hurt first. Uh,
um..I remember one time when I'm off
medication, spent 11 months locked in a
cell. Segregated, due to the fact that I
was too dangerous to come out".
Narrator: 24 year old Alex arrived at
Broadmoor 7 months ago. He was serving a
life sentence in a dedicated prison unit
for highly dangerous prisoners.
They could no longer manage him.
Alex: "When I was younger, we would
chase a seagull all round the council estate
Narrator: Now in a remissions ward he's
been diagnosed with mental illness and
personality disorder and put on
medication.
One of his symptoms is Auditory Hallucinations.
He hears voices.
Alex: "Oh, I was doing a fruit salad
the other day for an assessment. That's
when they do this assessment from
personal motor, motor skills.
It's like for learning disability.
And....Umm...
I was cutting a mango
and I have never, I've never used a sharp knife.
In the seven years I've been away
I've not used a sharp knife
and I was shaking. Literally.
I nearly cut my fingers off cause'
the voices were telling me to attack the
people in the room, with the knife.
And, like, they were goading me into it,
and I thought ' I can't do that.
I can't do that.
and so I managed to finish fruit, the
fruit salad, and I thought " wow like, what
achievement'. Cause' mostly stammers a
year ago, two years ago, my emotions
would have done it.
Ya know?"
[unintelligible speaking]
Man in Sweater: "No. We'll clean it
afterwards. We want to give you
bedding for now, okay?"
Narrator: This is Cranfield, the
intensive care ward. Home to the hospital's
most acute mentally ill patients.
[door shutting, keys jangling, people
speaking unintelligibly]
Female Voice: "Hi, can we come in and
talk to you, yeah?"
Man in Sweater: "Sit on the bed for us"
Narrator: Any contact with them has to be
carefully planned and executed.
This is a six person unlock.
The door to this patients room can only be
opened with six staff present.
Man in Glasses: "There is always the risk
of violence towards others, you
have to accept that with chronic mental
illness and they will be very distant
throughout the day, but you have to
learn to work with that.
[person sobbing]
My focus in working with this guys is
actually telling them that they are here
not because of the illness, they
are here because of violence.
And they only progress from here
if there's a reduction in that violence.
So that message, you know.
It might take time, but gradually
over a period of time, is that
going through".
[keys jangling, unintelligible talking in background]
Narrator: On this ward, even the most
routine tasks, run a risk of violence and
involve a protocol.
This patient has asked for a drink.
Man in White: "Just give us a minute trails off
[unintelligible]
Shukran. Shukran
Shukran means thank you, right?
You know, you taught me all this.
laughs
[unintelligible speaking]"
Inmate: [unintelligible] "give me some more?'
Man in White: [unintelligible response]
"Thank you!"
Female voice: "Thank you guys."
Narrator: Life in Broadmoor can be a game
of snakes and ladders.
With patients moving between the hospitals
15 wards according to their
mental state.
[door closing]
Patients who have responded to treatment
can progress to one of the hospitals
Assertive Rehab Wards, where
they're given greater freedom.
Daniel is one of 12 patients on this
ward.
Daniel: "I've been here five years.
Luckily I never went to a high dependency
ward, I came straight to rehab.
And, to be honest, its been...
I wouldn't use the word wonderful...
Cause' eh... it's not wonderful.
But, I've been grateful basically
to come here.
In my spare time I try and engage
in artwork mostly.
This was the, uh... my first real attempt
at an actual portrait. All done completely
in graphite, and then I moved on to using
charcoal along with, uh.. graphite.
And the charcoal allows you to, to have
so much more...uhhh...depth in the tone or
quality.
And then, yeah....I did a self-portrait.
The whole, The whole picture was a
statement about when I got locked up,
when I was 14 and I'm now 24.
This is me at 24, but uh, that's me.....
back then...sort of thing...."
Narrator: Mental Disorder is no respecter
of class or education.
Daniel was a 14 year old boy at a
mainstream school, and no one anticipated
the violence of his attack....on his own
family.
[Heavy guitar riff]
All of the men in Broadmoor present a
grave and immediate risk to the public.
And many have committed violent crimes.
From arson, to torture, rape and murder.
Unlike a prison sentence, they have no
release date.
Daniel: "I've been a bit of a conundrum
for the psychologists.
And I've have, I've had about nine different
diagnoses from thirty different doctors.
I've had seminars about me done,
I've had people wanting to write books about me,
just because of the unusuallity of
my offense, and my age, and what happened...
I mean, my family are my saving grace
to be honest here. They, they,
they're hugely...hugely supportive.
And what's even more amazing is that my offense
was actually oriented against my family.
So I think...so the fact....and, and, what a
lot of people see is that, when a family
member has committed an offense against
a family member they're often...dis-disowned.
So it think it's...it's too much for the family.
But, they-they, have told me that they swore
they'd stay by me when they, when I was
christened, and they have. So I think,
ya know...
They've always-they've always agreed I've had Aspergers.
One of the problems I have is I'm
not very good at understanding emotions.
Or...if I have a...if I'm feeling something
I don't always understand what it is that
I'm feeling.
But if I can draw it, I can get out these
angry feelings, or these frustrations of
being locked up, or guilt, or remorse.
All these, all these negative feelings I
can channel through this imaginative artworks".
[background talking, lunch bags rustle]
Daniel: I've probably never actually said
the words of what I actually done.
I've never admitted it.
Because I still, I still get flashbacks.
It's mainly guilt.
I still-I still struggle to bring it to mind
It's still just a blur in my head.
I've done such a terrible thing. Thats one
of the things that I've got to come to
terms with eventually is that I've
done this, it's happened, and it WILL be
with me forever".
Narrator: We're not allowed to reveal the
details of Daniel's offense.
Man in Suit: "okay"
Daniel: "Umm, the other thing I was
wondering about was, I sort of get
problems of fine motor control and spatial awareness,
and like bumping into things, and dropping
things a lot".
Man in Suit: "As you're saying it's not one of
the most common side effect. In fact, the
opposite....[trails off]"
Narrator: Daniel is taking medication and
undergoing psychological therapy.
These, together with everyday interaction
with staff are the cornerstone of
the treatment here.
Man in Suit: "Have you noticed any benefit?"
Daniel: " I don't really know what it is
I'm looking for."
Man in Suit: " I have noticed a difference
in you, not within the last week, but
certainly over the last three months. I
think that you are much more able to
spend longer time with people in one to
one situations."
[ducks quack, dramatic music]
Narrator: Broadmoor can feel like a ghost
town. Patients can only move at certain
times and in certain configurations.
Their cameras record where each patient is
at any given moment.
[Radio Chatter]
The control room ensures that incompatible
patients, do not collide.
[Radio Chatter]
Patients who are well enough, leave their
wards to go to work, study, and even once
a week go shopping. It's strangely like a
village.
[loud indistinct talking]
Shopkeeper "Whats going on? You sure it's okay?"
[indistinct response]
Shopkeeper: "Good."
Narrator: The freedom to shop is a
mixed blessing. One of the side effects
of medication is increased appetite
and many patients are severely overweight.
[indistinct talking]
However normal it feels, the reminder of
the threat of violence is ever-present.
Searches looking for potential weapons
are carried out before any patient movement.
Hospital Staff: This is stuff that we've
retrieved from patients. I think this is
just, what used to be a C.D. and its been
broken up into shards. It can be used as a
blade, even for self harming.
In fact, we don't use the C.D.s here anymore.
We've got spoons and forks that have been
sharpened off on the edge. So a normal
teaspoon-plastic spoon-which is quite innocent
to you and I, has been fashioned off and
can be used as a potential weapon to stab.
It's an example of how vigilant we have to
be with everyday items".
Alex: "I've done a lot of self harming, as
you can see. I've cut my own throat a couple
of times. I've cut my throat like four
times I think. Umm funny enough, I think
It was like five weeks before I come here,
I hung myself and they had to do CPR
on me in the cell.
Like, you know?
I was sexually abused when I was a child
and that had an affect on my behavior,
on my mental state.
I couldn't sleep at night, and the rest
of it...I was, you know...
Basically everything that you go through
when you've had a traumatic situation
like I did.
I think as well as being here,
I said to my mum 'this feels like the
best I've ever been in ten years."
Man in Tan Suit: Patients that come here,
they will have perpetrated, often,
horrendous crimes. But, they are also
victims. It is very easy to see somebody
as either the perpetrator or the victim.
It is much more difficult to understand
that somebody might be both.
[squirrel chatters]
[loud drumming and incoherent yelling]
Narrator: Patients from different wards
meet in certain events.
Dave Neita: "hi, first of all, thank
you for giving up your time. I know you
could be doing other things, I know
you have different [trails off]"
Narrator: Todays a diversity workshop and
Poet and Lawyer Dave Neita is encouraging
them to celebrate their different cultures.
Dave Neita: "Today I invite you to speak
about your own culture, but before
that we're going to have lunch."
But most of them are celebrating lunch.
[drums continue]
With no alcohol or tobacco allowed, food
is the only thing they have free reign over.
[drums in background]
Alex: "My mum's Italian and my dad's from
a little island in Africa
and I would say that being multicultural
It helps. It's good. It's nice to be different.
Because different is what we need. We
don't want everyone the same. And that's it."
Declan: "How'd I end up in here? Umm
they said they had a spare bed so I
thought 'I've been in children's homes,
I've been in secure units, I've been in prison.
The only place I haven't been is Broadmoor.
So I thought I'd come along.
laughs"
[drumming]
Narrator: Now 26, Declan was put
into care at the age of nine.
Declan: "I remember the day that my
mum took me to this office. I sat there
in a chair, and the next minute she just
left. She went 'your not coming with me'.
A social worker come out and she went
'alright, you got to come with me'.
I went to children's homes, foster homes.
I kept running away, cause' I got abused
When I was in the children home. By the
staff. Sexually and physical. And umm I
think it was like, no one would actually
listen to me.
I ran away to London, and I was living on
the streets. I mean I was living out of
bins, yeah....not nice but, when you're
on the streets you have to do that sometimes.
you know what I mean?"
Inmate in Red: "Yeah guys, this is called
Think, yeah?
It goes like this: When you see a tramp
out on the street. Don't look down your
nose so far that you see your own feet.
When you see people homeless don't reach
for a broom. Consider if you have the
means to give them a room.
Declan: "Am I a victim? I mean my current
defendant...umm...basically stabbed 'em
up. The judge classed it under as torture".
Inmate in Blue: "I'm black, I'm
British, and I'm proud of it [fades into
clapping and drums]."
Female Voice: "You say you've got a child?"
Declan: "Mm-hm. Got a little boy,
he's seven.
And he lives with his mum.
Don't really see him, but I would-
I wouldn't expect children to come in a
place like this."
Female Voice: "And are you still on good
terms with his mum?"
Declan: "Ummm...laughs
not really. No.
I started having a bit of a relationship
with [name beeped out]. Sooo, yeah..that
was the first time I found out that I was
sort of that way.
I've always-for some reason-I've always
wanted to be a woman.
I think that's the way I am, you know
but in this place you can't do that,
they won't allow it."
Declan in front of room: "I just wanted
to say I'm gay, and I'm proud of it.
Thank you."
Declan: "I want to be a Drag Queen that's
what I've done for a while."
Female Voice: "What's she called?"
Declan: "Crystal."
Female Voice: "And what's she look like?"
Declan: "Blonde, and just fabulous
laughs"
[Intense music]
Narrator: We've come to Chepstow, a
medium-dependancy ward, where Lenny
wants to show us his artwork.
Female Voice: "You do it in your room?"
Lenny: "Yeah. I do work with spare pens,
and it's mostly based on pens and
basically your using cups and shapes
and bottle tops to draw around.
Female Voice: "How long have you been here?"
Lenny: "7 years this time."
Female voice: "Is it not your first time?"
Lenny: "No it's the second time.
What do you think of that one?
That's the corridors in a ward that's shut
down now."
Female Voice: "So why are you considered
a risk?"
Lenny: "Because...I think its because of
my particular offense was against a
consulting psychiatrist. They
called in a section 12 approved psychiatrist.
And they're very powerful, not like- not
like when you go to an ordinary doctor.
They-they work from home office."
Narrator: He's not happy with life in
Broadmoor, and tells us he's bringing a
High Court case against the hospital.
Lenny: "It costs how much? What was the
last figure they said it cost to keep us
here every year? 320,000 pounds a year or
something? Surely its-its wrong to charge
a fortune for people like us. When we're
nowhere near about the centers of the
community."
Narrator: I costs 300,000 pounds a year
to keep a patient in Broadmoor. Almost
five times the cost of keep someone in prison.
Before Lenny came to Broadmoor, he was
in outpatient at a psychiatric hospital
where he threatened his psychiatrist with
a machete.
Female Voice: "Do you think you shouldn't
be here, or?"
Lenny: "Do you think I sound like a
mad blathering idiot?
Cause' I think-No I don't think I should
be here. I think I should be sharing this-
my life- with people. I want to be
sharing my life with people. I want to
be able to decide
what I do, when I do it
and be reasonably responsible for my
own behavior, like anyone else out there.
And I don't think I'll be any more of a
danger then whatever's already out there.
And I will be honest with you, I am rude
here, I could be really furious and angry
and people come with 'You're the patient,
yeah? That is a term we use to separate
you from the rest of society, we're the
last thing on earth -this is the truth
here- to be given what you call equal
rights. What do you think? You agree
or not? I'm not anti-people I'm all for
people."
Narrator: Downstairs on the admissions
ward, Alex is keen to progress.
Alex: I was seven months up in here
yesterday, seven months yesterday. It's
taking forever. Are you aware of any
beds coming up soon?"
Narrator: His medication has stabilized
him. He wants to move from Admissions to
and Assertive Rehab ward, where he'll
have greater freedom.
Man in suit: That I don't know.
Alex: Well you should know, [laughing]
you're a consultant in there!
Man in suit: Yes- I can't- I don't know
the timescales, cause it's not quite
within my control...
Narrator: Back upstairs on Chepstow,
Benson, the PAT dog, has arrived for
his weekly visit.
Lenny's behavior over the past few days
is becoming a cause for concern.
He's been increasingly manic and
hyperactive, and his doctor feels he
needs medication.
[door clatter] Dog Handler: Bye!
Narrator: Lenny refuses to take it,
so it'll have to be forcibly administered,
by injection.
Lenny: Hang on hang on, you filming?
[crosstalk]
Lenny: This is wrong, I'm not fighting you
[crosstalk]
[chatter]
Doctor: Guys, we really need to get this
started, if you just mind, just, just-
please.. OK? All right
Narrator: At this point, staff tell us
to leave the ward.
[moody music]
We're told we can see Lenny the following
day. [door shuts]
[birds, brooding music]
Lenny: Neil? Neil, could we have a key
please? There should [unintelligible]
Narrator: The day before, we were told to
leave the ward when staff were about
to forcibly inject Lenny with
antipsychotic medication.
He's keen to explain what happened after
we left.
Lenny: Come this way-
So I moved into here-
Narrator: He leads us into the seclusion
area.
Lenny: Come in, come in.
All right, well [unintelligible] First
of all, I was at that point, I was
laying like this, alright, and I was
talking saying 'Please don't turn me
over, cos I'm not trying to fight you'
And they said, and the next thing happened
they all came in and [unintelligible]
I can make a deal with them, I'm on the
bed, so I'm like this, one point, all the
staff were holding me, I was like that
and said 'Would you please let me go,
and I'll get up' so I went like that
and stood like that and took down my
pants and trousers and he stopped
me there, let's see, I came out again,
that's what happened, but I didn't-
What do you think? What's your opinion
about that?
Interviewer: But did you, so did you hit
one of them then?
Lenny: Yeah but that's cos I was being
chased [unintelligible].
One of the biggest areas of conflict, um
between certainly doctor and patient
is the issue of medication.
Lenny: This one's sealed, alright?
It's stifling sometimes.
Doctor, offscreen: One of the difficulties
with psychotic disorders is your
interpretation of reality is different
from other people's.
And if you genuinely believe there's
nothing wrong with you and you don't
need any medication, why on earth would
you want to take some of the medications
that would be up for discussion?
Lenny: Could we open this door please?
Doctor: He's particularly angry for two reasons, so
one is he doesn't believe he'll benefit
from the medication at all, second reason
is that he believes he's involved in a
major, high court case against the
hospital to expose a range of malpractice
particularly in relation to him, but in
general about how these services are just
really keeping people in jobs and don't
provide any useful service.
Lenny: The hospital's defense is just-
'Here's some of the most notorious
people in the country,' I'll show you what-
Doctor: He believes we've given him the
medication purely to dull his mind
and weaken his chances of being successful
in that case.
In fact he's not currently involved in any,
uh, legal action or court case.
Lenny: No you're not going in there
it's private, sorry come on you guys
it's private. It's my mess, my own mess.
Hey look, can you show 'em all now?
Look at that, that's my mum and me.
See she pretty in the black and white from
the 60s, see her?
Doctor: He's a man who's spent a long
time in institutional care, um in previous
settings was frequently assaulted, he was
violent himself on several occasions
but he often assaulted.
Lenny: You want a drink or anything, cup
of tea or something? [offscreen] I'm fine
You sure? Any sweets, soft drink? [offscreen] Nothing
Lenny: Alright thanks very, thank you very much [unintelligible]
[contemplative music]
[keys clattering, chatter]
[offscreen] Just check to make sure, all
the shadows are covered..
So they're checked, first thing in the
morning, again before the patients go back
[door handle rattles]
Narrator: Patients who are well enough
to go to work can make goods, which go
on sale to the public. They are paid
80 pence an hour.
Alex has been doing well and is now
allowed off the Admissions ward to
come to work.
Alex: Everyone's saying 'Oh you gonna move
you're gonna move' they said I would have
moved by Thursday last week, nothing
so far now, I've been onto my psychiatrist
saying, 'Look, why am I still on at Admission ward,
after 8 months, when there's a bed for me
on Rehab? Know?'
Interviewer: You a bit frustrated? Alex: Yeah
it is frustrating, but
I'm just at the moment, focusing, cos next
week I've got a visit, mum and dad are
coming up for 2 days, so, y'know, I'll
spend some time with my family.
[tapping]
[outdoor ambiance, guitar music]
Narrator: They have a saying here:
There's time, and then there's Broadmoor Time.
Tan shirt: Which episode did you see last,
of Eastenders? Bout a week ago?
Black shirt: Last night? Tan shirt: Last night?
Black shirt: Last night yeah
Tan shirt: Did they show the man who was
pretending to be Nick Cotton's own son?
Black shirt: No I didn't see it
[moody music]
Narrator: While medication can often
control behavior, extensive therapy is
needed to change it, and that takes time.
Estelle: I'm in the diary, ok? [offscreen] OK
Narrator: Estelle Moore is the hospital's
lead psychologist, she's been here for 20 years.
Estelle: [keys jangling] You alright?
Declan: They say just carry on with the
violent offenders group, what finishes in December
Narrator: Patients undergo specific
therapies depending on their offense,
whether it's violence, sex offending, or
fire setting.
Declan: -understand our relationships and
uhh, borderlines. No not borderlines, boundaries.
Estelle: What sort of actions are safe
and contained in relationships? The sorts
of things that you would do that feel
like normal and safe relationships?
Declan: Laughter
Estelle: Laughter? OK so laughing,
Declan: Talking sensible. Feeling comfortable with each other.
[keys, footsteps]
Narrator: Declan was found guilty of a life-threatening assault on a man.
Declan: Do I feel sorry for him? No. Will I do it again? No.
No. I'm missing the sun, I'm missing the surfing. Know what I mean?
[keys, door squeaks]
[door shuts]
[moody music]
[ping pong ball clatters]
Narrator: Lenny has been on antipsychotic
medication for a few weeks.
It has had time to build up in his system.
[ponytail] Now he's had the depot injection, the chemicals from that
are slowing down his reactions to the point where he has those few
more seconds to think-
'How am I gonna reply to this?'
and he will reply in a much more- manner to what you or I would reply to something.
I can definitely empathize with him, he
hasn't come from a different background to me
but he has come from different parents to me.
[Interviewer, offscreen] It seems to be the case with so many.
Yeah, I know, I agree with that, you can
probably see if you go back into, um,
the lives of most of our patients, you could probably identify them at
5, 6 years old, and say 'I'll be seeing you later on' and things like that.
Lenny: He's alright here, he's my buddy,
one day he's gonna tell the truth as well. [laughs]
[walkie talkie chatter]
[Doctor, offscreen] Everyone is born with
certain temperaments, with certain predispositions to certain
behavior, and if you've been given a triple-whammy of, of genes, environment,
upbringing, childhood adversity, substance misuse, all of those different
aspects build up to make the person.
And it's a long term project of gradually putting somebody back together and
making sure that they stay in that recovered state.
[ominous music]
Narrator: Things have finally changed for Alex-
after 8 months, he's been moved to Assertive Rehab.
Alex: It's better over here, it's a little better.
Got a lot more freedom, key to a door,
come out when you want to make hot drinks, yeah, it's alright.
Narrator: But it's not all good news. As so often in the past,
he's in danger of self-harming.
He's had to be put on Eyesight Observation which means nurses have to
take turns to watch him, 24 hours a day.
Alex: Cos my mental state haven't been the best, it's not nice, you know,
hearing voices and what-have-you, but you know, just got to control it,
that's all you can do, not let it get to you.