The Value of a Theory of Etiology

Nancy Ackley

Module 5 - Bedlum Redux- Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry- Pennsylvania

" Abandon All Hope Who Enter Here."

1. When was the asylum opened and what did it look like? Did it follow Kirkbride's design?

     The asylum was constructed in 1906 and opened in 1907 and followed the theory of Benjamin

     Rush. He believed that mental illness was a disease that could be cured by proper treatment.

While the original intent was to follow Kirkbride's design, a number of political and financial barriers prevented the completion of a building that followed Kirkbride's plan. The events at the turn of the 20th century marked the beginning of the end for the Kirkbridge hospital design. It was originally designed as a cottage and began as a small work farm for the mentally ill. The first patient were transferred from the over crowded Philadelphia General Hospital. The name of the institution changed several time and was called Philadelphia State Hospital, Byberry State Hospital, Byberry City Farms, and Philadelphia Hospital for Mental Diseases. During its time of operation from 1907 to 1977, it served a wide range of patients from those who were mentally challenged to the criminally insane.

2.  What was the institution's original intent?

      The original intent was to run a farm operation for mental patients. The patients were mental

      patients who were transferred from Philadelphia General Hospital.

3. Who were the patients there? Do narratives of their experiences exist?

     The original 6 patients were patients with mental illness. Over the course of the 70 years of

     operation changed to serve a wide range of patients including children, those who were

     mentally challenged to the criminally insane and people who had no place to go.

    There are narratives that exist from records and from staff and former patients. An article in

    Philadelphia Magazine by Liz Spikol on 6-28-2015 called They Survived Byberry and features

    the story of Anna Jennings who was admitted in 1984 and died by suicide in the ward of a

    different state hospital in 1990. Anna's advocacy efforts helped to close Byberry.

4. What was the patient's experience experiences like in that institution and did that change over  

    the course of the institution's history?

The patient's experience was one of horror and abuse for those unfortunate to work or live there. Stories of horrible conditions and treatment have been described as" when the government collects, locks away, and systematically tortures tens of thousands of mental patients through excruciating neglect for a better part of a century, it's not Hitler, It's Byberry. Justly compared to Nazi concentration camps, Byberry was perhaps the nations best example of a free-world-leadng society's inability to embrace it's own people with mental illness."

5. Did the institution, its services, and patients change over time?

    In 1907, Byberry farms consisted of 15 farm cottages. They were converted to colony houses

    and the city built several small wooden buildings to house 150 inmates from Blockley.

    Buildings were constructed to house 1000 male adults, and 1000 female adults, and 100

    children. These buildings quickly came to house more than 4000 patients.

    Between 1939- 1959 the state took over the operation of Byberry. By the late 1950's, there

    were as many as 7000 people. The institution changed from a small farm operation to a large

    overcrowded and understaffed asylum. As many as 7000 patients lived and worked at Byberry

    at its height of use. While staff number were as many as a 1000, they were understaffed for

    most of its operation. The staff that were hired were often not trained and were known to beat

    patients.

6. How many people lived, worked, and died there?

While I found figures of those who lived there ranged from 6 to 7000. There was no references as to the total number who died at Byberry. In the early 1970s, there was a list of 31 people that died between 3-23-29 to 6-24-47 that was released by the Philadelphia Inquirer. A couple of examples from the list include: 4-28-38 Reynold Rosenblatt, drowned in the bathtub during

hydrotherapy and 3-30-42 Louis Petrome, 34, died of injuries suffered while being restrained by attendants.

7. Were bad conditions ever exposed to the public How?

     Bad conditions were exposed through the Philadelphia Inquirer in an article" The Shame that is Byberry " as well as " Inside Philadelphia Byberry Mental Hospital House of Horrors" by Erin Kelly published Dec 5, 2017 and updated May 4, 2018. Life Magazine did an expose on Byberry in 1946.

8. Would you have wanted" treatment" in the institution?

No way would I have wanted to be treated at this institution. It has been described to be similar to Hitler's work camps.

References

http:// the duke81.tripod.com/id23.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/philadelphia_state_hosptal at Byberry

https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/01/crazy-mental-asylum-transallegheny-lunatic-asylum

http://www.phidelphiastatehospital.com/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/112378953176004061/?lp+true

https://www.phillymag.com/news 2015/06/28/byberry-mental-nstitution-survivor/

http://allthatsinestering.com.byberry-mental-hospital