What was life like for the men in the old insane asylums? It was brutal. Food was reportedly terrible and, in some cases, inedible. Bathing and personal care was a low priority. Visitors were few and oftentimes wives would be turned away and were not permitted to check on their loved ones.
Life for men inside the old asylums was brutal and survival was often slim.
Full Bath Once Every Three Months
Imagine being tied down to an iron bed, given occasional sponge baths, and then maybe being allowed to get a real bath once every three months. That was the sad story of one man being held at the Connecticut State Hospital for the Insane at Norwich in 1921.
In the words of Dr. Franklin Wilcox:
“This, gentlemen, is one of our worst cases. He is a hopeless maniac and we are obliged to keep him strapped to his iron bed. He is, as you see, gentlemen, a man of great muscular strength. He is sponged and cleaned somewhat every day and once in three months is given a bath. On these occasions, when the straps are loosened, it requires four of our strongest keepers to hold him.”
Nothing was said of his toiletry, however we are left to assume that he is given no other option but to soil himself while strapped on the bed. [1]
Broke Breast Bone and Four Ribs
Beatings inside the insane asylums were a common occurrence long ago. One such beating, in 1905, resulted in the death of an aged inmate.
Peter F. Durant, an 80-year-old French Canadian, was an inmate at the Waterbury Asylum. One evening he and another inmate got into an argument over dinner. Two male nurses stepped in and began to beat Peter, breaking his breast bone and four of his ribs.
Peter died from the injuries shortly thereafter and the two male nurses went on the run. Both men were captured and placed in jail. However, the one nurse was able to post bail and he immediately left the state afterwards, leaving only one of the men to face a charge of manslaughter. [2]
Insane Soldiers and Sailors
If you think that the soldiers and sailors of the past were treated with any respect during their time of need, think again. Katherine Douglas, a nurse at St. Elizabeth’s Governmental Hospital, testified in front of a committee back in 1919, stating that the conditions were horrible.
According to the nurse’s testimony, “insane” soldiers and sailors were regularly beaten, choked, and starved while being held prisoner in the mental facility. The food they received was inedible and barely fit for the pigs. [3]
Disciplined With Clubs
Some asylums did not wait for the inmates to misbehave before beating them. In 1903 it came to the publics’ attention that the men admitted to the Kansas Insane Asylum were beaten on their first day.
According to one article:
“A.S. Mason of Lawrence, a former attendant, appeared before the legislative committee and said all the new patients in the asylum were beaten into a condition of docility by order of the superior officers. As it was deemed necessary to have the patients understand from the first that they would have to obey the attendant. For this purpose they were beaten even before they had broken any of the rules.” [4]
Fight Club
In 1907, the Southern California State Hospital for the Insane at Patton got quite a bit of bad publicity after a newspaper reporter got a job as an attendant.
A.W.L. Dunn was determined to find out what was really going on inside the asylum. There were rumors that the conditions were bad, but he had to see them for himself.
As an attendant for a mere fifteen days, Dunn witnessed patients being kicked and beaten. Some patients were whipped with straps until they begged for mercy. There were even patients who were strapped down onto beds before they were beaten so that they could not protect themselves from the punches.
What was just as terrible as the beatings was the humiliation the attendants put the patients through. Some of the patients would be dragged from their beds and forced to perform stunts for the amusement of the staff.
Attendants would also force patients to fight each other in what can only be called a fight club. [5]
