Florida State Hospital is a hospital and mental institution in Chattahoochee, Florida. Established in 1876, it was until 1947 Florida's only state mental institution. It currently has a capacity of 1,042 patients. The hospital's current Administration Building is on the National Register of Historic Places.[1]
The facility's property previously served as a military arsenal during the Seminole Wars and the American Civil War, and later became the site of Florida's first state prison. It was subsequently refurbished as a mental hospital, originally known as Florida State Hospital for the Insane, which opened in 1876. It gained notoriety over the course of its long history, and was involved in the U.S. Supreme Court case O'Connor v. Donaldson, in which the Court found that the hospital had illegally confined one of its patients. The decision gave momentum to the deinstitutionalization movement, which saw the closure of many mental institutions in the country. Currently the hospital treats patients with severe mental disabilities who have been civilly or forensically committed to the institution.
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The hospital was originally the site of the Apalachicola Arsenal, built in the 1830s and named after the nearby Apalachicola River. The hospital's current Administration Building is the original Officers' Quarters of the Arsenal and is on the National Register of Historic Places.[1] It served as a supply depot during the Seminole Wars. The first engagement of the American Civil War in Florida took place here on January 6, 1861 when a Confederate militia unit from Quincy overcame Union soldiers at the Arsenal.[2]
In 1868, Florida Governor Harrison Reed made the arsenal property at Chattahoochee into Florida's first penitentiary. Florida's first recorded inmate was Calvin Williams, incarcerated in Chattahoochee in November 1868 for the crime of larceny and sentenced to one year. By 1869 there were 42 inmates and 14 guards. In 1871, the prison was put under civilian jurisdiction. Malachi Martin was appointed as warden, gaining a reputation for cruelty and corruption. He used prison labor for his personal benefit to build houses and tend his personal vineyards, amassing a huge fortune. The book The American Siberia, written in 1891, portrayed the Chattahoochee prison as a place of relentless barbarity. The prisoners were relocated in 1876 to a prison at Raiford, Florida and the prison became a state hospital.[3]
In 1876 the prison was refurbished as Florida State Hospital for the Insane, Florida's first mental institution. The hospital has been the focus of investigations over the years for allegations of mistreatment of patients.
The hospital was involved in a famous United States Supreme Court decision in 1975, O'Connor v. Donaldson, when a patient at the hospital, Kenneth Donaldson, sued the hospital and staff for confining him for fifteen years against his will. The decision, as interpreted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), means that it is unconstitutional to commit for treatment a person who is not imminently a danger to himself or others and is capable to a minimal degree of surviving on his own. This interpretation has hampered efforts to implement changes in commitment laws throughout the United States, as most states insist the person meet the "imminent danger" standard, accepting the ACLU's interpretation of the Donaldson case.[4] The ruling gave momentum to the deinstitutionalization movement in the United States, resulting in the shutting down of many psychiatric hospitals as patients were released to the streets, and has been blamed for causing widespread homelessness in the United States among other problems.[5][6]
The hospital was featured in a 1989 movie, Chattahoochee, starring Gary Oldman and Dennis Hopper.
Carrie C. White, listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as one of the longest lived people in history, was a resident of Florida State Hospital for 75 years, from 1909–1984.[7] Her date of birth, and therefore her status as one of the world's oldest people, is disputed, but her long stay at the hospital is confirmed.[7]
The hospital treats individuals with severe and persistent major mental illnesses. There are two categories of patients at the hospital; those civilly committed under Statute 394, who represent a small portion of the hospital's residents, and those forensically committed under Statute 916. The Civil portion of the hospital houses adult and elderly individuals who have been civilly committed to the hospital, and forensic residents who have been "stepped down" to the civil unit. The civil units are also known as Forensic Transition units. Florida State Hospital also maintains a forensic wing for the Florida Department of Corrections to care for inmates who have been adjudicated through the criminal justice system to be incompetent to proceed, or not guilty by reason of insanity. The current maximum housing capacity is 491 residents in civil units and 646 residents in forensic units.[8] The goal of the hospital's efforts are recovery. The hospital aims to restore competency to residents adjudicated incompetent to proceed to trial. Residents receive competency training in both forensic and civil units. The amount of time needed to restore competency varies from a month or two, to up to five years. However, by statute, a patient cannot be committed for more than five years as incompetent to proceed and upon five years of commitment that patient will be returned to court to have his/her charges dropped or commutted in some way. For residents adjudicated not guilty by reason of insanity the hospital aims to assist the resident in transitioning back into community living by learning appropriate activities for daily living and social cues. Hospital staff ensure the resident is no longer at risk of reoffending before recommending to the judge that the patient is ready for a conditional release to the community. Unlike patients committed as Incompetent to Proceed, those committed as Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity have no time limit on their commitment and can remain committed by their presiding judge until their recovery is complete.[9]
One of the tasks of the forensic psychologists in the forensic wing is to evaluate an inmate's competency to be executed.[10][11] This is a result of Ford v. Wainwright, a Florida inmate on death row who took his case to the United States Supreme Court, declaring he was not competent to be executed. The court ruled that a forensic professional must make that evaluation and, if the inmate is found incompetent, provide treatment to aid in his gaining competency so the execution can take place.[12] Providing treatment to an individual to enable that person to become competent to be executed puts mental health professionals in an ethical dilemma.[13]
The former arsenal and current Administration Building of Florida State Hospital is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (Building - #73000578).[1]
Built in 1839 as the United States Army Officers Quarters, it is a two-story masonry brick main building, with 1 1⁄2-story wings and front and rear porches framed with carved brackets.[14]