A Warren woman was sentenced to nearly four years in state prison on charges stemming from repeated assaults of staff at Warren State Hospital.

But both attorneys made persuasive arguments that the sentence handed down against Brenda D. Carroll, 44, was about much more than her conduct and, instead, a stinging indictment of what they view as a broken state treatment system.

Carroll’s attorney, Chief Public Defender Kord Kinney, said the state failed his client.

He detailed her history for the county which includes a litany of psychiatric institutions, state prison and state hospital commitments.

Kinney said his client is a “sick individual” and that the state may have violated both her civil and human rights by failing to provide appropriate treatment.

District Attorney Rob Greene said the situation is the “impact of the legislature closing forensic units.”

Warren State Hospital once had such a unit but it was closed over a decade ago.

“We deal with it on a daily basis,” Greene said, citing an eight-month waiting list to get into the remaining units.

“In the meantime,” he explained, “people are getting hurt. Everyone is caught between a rock and a hard place.”

Greene said that Carroll needs to be institutionalized but added that it can take years in the state prison system to receive the appropriate level of treatment needed here.

He noted that the victims were injured “incredibly badly” and “can’t work” while being limited in how they can press these charges due to potential job impacts.

Carroll, who Kinney said is currently serving a 30-day jail sentence on a harassment charge handed down by District Judge Laura Bauer, told the court that mental health and psychiatric placements are not “good for me.”

She was critical of the fact that she has been isolated in the county jail.

“(It is) hard not to do that when you have the history you do,” Skerda said. “Your history is lengthy.”

She noted that she caused a traumatic brain injury to one of her victims.

Skerda acknowledged that the situation generally “is tragic” but cited that there are also behavior issues at play.

“I don’t think any system addresses all your needs,” she added.

Carroll was sentenced to 27 to 60 months incarceration, $923.52 in restitution, $250 in fees, submission of a DNA sample and priority for forensic mental health treatment in the state system on a count of aggravated assault.

She was then sentenced to 10 to 20 months incarceration on two simple assault charges, one carrying a no contact order.