Mental Institutions
1820’S TO 1860’S
BY KYLIE TEVALD & ROBERT KELLER
New York Prison Reform
 In the early nineteenth century, New York State
reformed the prison system by putting the Auburn
system into place; prisoners were kept in separate
cells and forbidden from socializing.
 More and more prisoners were serving longer
sentences for violent offenses. Many of them were
immigrants, This threatened to overwhelm the
prison system in the middle of the century.
The Reformers
 Advocates for prison reform such as Enoch
Wines and Theodore Dwight worked to make
sure that prisons were focused on reform and
rehabilitation, not punishment.
 Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe founded a school for
the blind and Thomas Gallaudet established a
school for the deaf.
 Dorothea Dix worked with state legislatures to
provide funding for statewide mental hospitals with
professional staff and treatment.
Wines & Dwight
 After visiting various prisons in 18 states, Enoch
Wines and Theodore Dwight wrote a report
describing the flaws in the existing system and
proposing remedies. They discovered that no state
prison was interested in reforming its inmates. In
1870 they set out an agenda for reform which was
supported by the National Congress in Cincinnati. At
the core of the design was an educational program,
which included general subjects and vocational
training for the less capable. Instead of fixed
sentences, prisoners who did well could be released
early.
Dorothea Dix
 Dorothea Dix was a former school teacher whom
dedicated most of her adult life to improving the living
conditions for the mentally ill; she traveled across the
nation to convince state legislatures to build mental
institutions across the country.
 She was responsible for improving living conditions in
jails, poorhouses and insane asylums throughout the U.S.
and Canada. She succeeded in persuading many states to
assume responsibility for the care of the mentally ill. She
served as the Superintendant of Nurses for the Union
Army during the Civil War.
Dorothea Dix (Con’t)
 1841 – Dorothea was asked to teach Sunday school at
East Cambridge Jail, when she got to the jail she saw
not only the guilty but also the innocent and insane,
all in the same miserable place. The people that
were seen as insane were very often chained or
restrained.
 She became involved in the Asylum Movement:

Efforts to propose government legislation to improve
treatment of the insane with larger institutions and proper
environmental and educational conditions.
Dorothea Dix (Con’t)
 Dix traveled around the country, documenting the
condition of the poor and mentally ill. She devoted
herself to working with state legislators to build
asylums. Dix had great influence in the
establishment of Illinois' first state mental hospital
and the construction of a hospital in North Carolina.
The hospital, named in honor of Dorothea Dix,
opened in 1856. She was also instrumental in the
founding of the first public mental hospital in
Pennsylvania, the Harrisburg State Hospital, and
later in establishing its library and reading room in
1853.
Mental Hospitals Today
 Life in today’s mental institutions is seen in society as dull,
unappealing, torturous, and abusive. Polices and schedules in
these institutions are very strict, for example patients must
get a doctor’s consent in order to acquire a second pillow.
These patients are also highly medicated and break down
often because of their conditions.
 Most are institutionalized for depression, anxiety, and suicidal
attempts. The doctors and nurses tell the patients to set goals
for themselves everyday. These goals could be big things or
little, like doing laundry. Patients are brought together at the
end of the day to go over their goals; some break down
because they feel as if they have failed, others succeed and
praise themselves for a job well done. These good feelings
don’t last long though, because at the end of social hour, it’s
back to the cells.
:References:
Book:
 Powell, John. Great Lives from History The 19th Century,
1801-1900, Volume 2, Charles Dickens – Ferdin and Lassalle.
Pasadena, Calif. :Salem Press, ©2007. Print.
Web:
 “Prisons and Asylums.” www.boundless.com/history. Web:
Feb. 27, 2013
 “Timeline.” www.ncld-youth.info/index. The institute for
Educational Leadership. Web: Feb. 27, 2013
Current Article:
 O’Brien, Jennifer. “A Day in the Life of a Mental Hospital.”
www.psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/09/07/a-day-inthe-life-of-a-mental-hospital-patient. Web: Mar. 5, 2013