Worker killed in California’s mental-hospital system

October 25, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchey Newspapers

SAN FRANCISCO

A 54-year-old psychiatric technician was killed Saturday at Napa State Hospital, allegedly by a patient, marking the first staff homicide in the state’s mental-hospital system in two decades, officials say.

The body of Donna Gross, of Concord, Calif., was found at 6:10 p.m. on the fenced grounds behind the unit where she worked, sources said. Gross, who had worked at the hospital for 13 years, was described by staff and one patient Sunday as kind and dedicated to her patients, many of whom were sent to the facility after committing crimes as a result of their mental illnesses.

Jess Willard Massey, 37, who has an “extensive criminal history,” was being held on suspicion of murder and robbery, a Napa County sheriff’s statement said. He had been in the state hospital system since a “not guilty by reason of insanity” declaration in 1997.

A Department of Mental Health spokeswoman called the incident “tragic” and said in a statement that officials “are deeply saddened by the loss of a longtime employee.”

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in 2006 alleging civil rights violations of patients at Napa and three other state mental hospitals. As the facilities work to improve conditions under a court mandated consent judgment, increasing violence has been a persistent concern system-wide.

“I’m sick to my stomach. ... People have been saying that it’s just a matter of time before someone gets killed out here,” said one staff member, who declined to be name.

Severe assaults on staff members are not uncommon.

, Department of Mental Health spokeswoman Jennifer Turner said no staff member had been killed in the hospital system since a 1990 homicide at Atascadero.