Inside hospital holding wheelchair-bound Lindsay Clancy where cops are called 1,000 times a year after security scandal

In 2025, the department responded to 26 assaults at the hospital, and the Tewksbury State Hospital Public Safety Department responded to 478 assaults, according to the Boston Globe.

A report from 2024 from the Boston Globe also revealed that water at the hospital was rendered undrinkable for years because of manganese contamination, which made the water brown and taste like metal.

Information from the state’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services reviewed by the Globe suggested that the incident rate at Tewksbury is similar to other inpatient facilities in the state.

More reports of violent encounters emerged earlier in 2026, including a visitor assaulting a pregnant staff member, a patient allegedly acting erratically striking a worker, one patient assaulting another with a sharp object, and a patient hitting a worker in the face twice.

New safety protocols were introduced to the hospital in 2025 to address violence concerns, which appeared to be working before the state banned security staff from using handcuffs, batons and pepper gel on patients, according to the Boston Globe.