Madhouse Horrors: Asylums in America That Had Scandals

_{Photo by Gioele Fazzeri}

History can best describe the story of mental health care in the United States as something murky. And that’s saying it lightly. In actuality, the long story of mental health care is pocked by both a measure of progress and a whole slew of destructive failures. It’s not a good look, to say the least. While a lot of good steps have been taken, it is still far from getting away from the profound darkness that took place on the regular in many asylums. The past of mental health care is full and brimming with stories of neglect, abuse, and scandal after scandal.

Scandalous Asylums in America

Here, we explore some of the most heinous acts imaginable conducted within the walls of asylums–places that were meant to heal and to understand the human mind but were left to fester with and wallow in atrocity after atrocity.

Madhouse Horrors: Willowbrook State School

Located on Staten Island, Willowbrook State School opened in 1943. It was to be a school for children who were suffering from intellectual disabilities that made it hard for their parents to raise them. With that humble goal in mind, it is utterly terrifying what happened to it. Despite a massive lack of resources, financial and human, the institution quickly became an overcrowded mess.

_{Photo by Marko Garic}

In the late 1960s, it was discovered after several investigations that the patients–young children–were subjected to extreme physical and emotional abuse. After touring the facility, a Senator declared that patients were living in filth and dirt and were consigned to spaces that were less humane than the cages that animals had in zoos.

We won’t speak more of the crimes that were committed, but it is safe to say that the scars that were forced on the children would take lifetimes to heal from.

Willowbrook’s deplorable and rampant conditions were a severe and heart-wrenching example of the government’s inequities and incompetence. To this day, it still remains an open question if the government can truly care for the mentally ill, the young, and the vulnerable properly.

Madhouse Horrors: Alabama State Hospital for the Insane

Founded in 1824, Alabama State Hospital for the Insane was one of the largest mental health institutions in North America at the time and the oldest in Alabama. It was certainly the largest in the United States. Despite this reputation, it was soon tarnished by an unavoidable spate of damning allegations. Within the halls of the asylum, abuse and neglect were as common as grass. Patients who found themselves inside the Alabama State Hospital for the Insane would soon be faced with inhumane treatment. Forced labor was a common “treatment” for many patients, and it was likened, at some point, to a concentration camp.

_{Photo by Darius Krause}

To this day, Alabama State Hospital for the Insane stands out as a massive stain on the progress of mental health care in the United States despite the many progressive reforms that have come.

Fortunately, though, the addition of the institution’s first superintendent, Peter Bryce, was a godsend to the patients. His administration was characterized by complete discipline among staff members. During his tenure, patients were treated as they should have been.

Madhouse Horrors: Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry

The Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry first began as Byberry Mental Hospital in 1907. It had been a small work farm for the mentally ill before it was turned into a private institution. When it became a state hospital, conditions were already quite terrible. Abuse and inhumane treatment were the norm. It wasn’t until 1946 that a full picture of Byberry’s exact situation could be made. Thirty-six photos made their way to the public, documenting what was happening inside.

Patients were regularly cordoned tightly like pigs, and human feces spread across the hallways of the facility. It was reminiscent of Nazi concentration camps, according to one observer. There was a report that a patient had had his teeth pulled out without any sort of anesthetic. The final investigations merely concluded that the conditions were atrocious and irreversible. The hospital was closed in June 1990.

Important Lessons Learned

What happened in the aforementioned places serves as a stark reminder that while nothing is perfect, things become much, much worse if no one tries to change things for the better.

For a more in-depth investigation of madhouse horrors, Asylum Scandals by Patricia Lubeck takes readers to the rampant abuse, torture, and corruption in Minnesota’s State Hospitals.