greystone park psychiatric hospital

Greystone escapee captured 2 miles from mental hospital

By Tomothy D. May

March 18, 2000 - The Record

PARSIPPANY-TROY HILLS -- An inmate at the Passaic County Jail who escaped from Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital after he was sent there for evaluation has been captured and transferred to the state's maximum security mental institution, officials said Friday.

Matthew Piatt of Camden County clambered over a 10-foot-high, chain-link fence and sprinted away from attendants Thursday afternoon while he was on a supervised smoking break, said Ed Rogan, a spokesman for the Department of Human Services.

Piatt was captured 1 1/2 hours later -- and two miles away -- in Morris Plains by Morris County sheriff's officers, who used dogs to track him to a location behind Warner-Lambert's office complex, Rogan said.

Thursday's escape is under review by hospital and state officials, but Rogan said proper procedures were followed and that Piatt, who is not considered violent, was cleared to take supervised breaks outside his ward.

Piatt had been serving time at the Passaic County Jail on charges including burglary, receiving stolen property, and making terroristic threats -- for allegedly saying he was going to bomb the Paterson Police Department last year -- officials said.

He was transferred to Greystone on March 11 because jail officials wanted him to undergo evaluation for possible mental illness, Rogan said.

About 3:10 p.m. Thursday, while in a fenced yard with seven other patients, Piatt dashed to the fence and climbed to the top. An attendant grabbed one of his ankles, but Piatt kicked her, and she lost her grip. He leaped over the fence and outran several more attendants, who chased him across a portion of the grounds before they lost sight of him, Rogan
said.

Hospital officials immediately reported the escape -- the first at the facility this year -- to the Sheriff's Department and to police in Parsippany, Morris Plains, and other municipalities, Rogan said.

Piatt was captured about 4:45 p.m., after a sheriff's officer
spotted him near railroad tracks behind Warner-Lambert. He was taken back to Greystone on Thursday night, and Friday he was transferred to the Ann Klein Forensic Hospital in Trenton, "our most secure facility," Rogan said.

County and state officials have been under pressure to improve security and patient monitoring at Greystone since 1994, after a series of patient rapes, escapes, and suicides.

The hospital later instituted reforms, recommended by a state
commission, that contributed to a reduction in escapes and crimes, and a new management firm was hired two years ago.

Disclaimer: This article is featured on designedbreakdown solely for entertainment and educational purposes. Neither the publication nor this website are affiliated with one another in any way. Any photos featured within the article are chosen from galleries of photos on designedbreakdown.com unless noted otherwise.