Bridgewater State Hospital

Bridgewater State Hospital, located in southeastern Massachusetts, is a state facility housing the criminally insane and those whose sanity is being evaluated for the criminal justice system. It was established in 1855 as an almshouse. It was then used as a workhouse for inmates with short sentences who worked the surrounding farmland. It was later rebuilt in the 1880s and again in 1974. Bridgewater State Hospital currently houses 395 inmates all of whom are adult males.^[1] The facility was the subject of the 1967 documentary Titicut Follies.^[2] Bridgewater State Hospital falls under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Department of Correction.

History

By the 1970s the campus of the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Bridgewater (MCIB) housed four separate facilities: The State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, the Treatment Center for Sexually Dangerous Persons, a center for alcoholics, and a minimum security prison.

In 1968 there were hearings conducted after a study showed that there were 30 inmates committed to the state hospital illegally. Most of the prisoners stayed at Bridgewater because they did not have the legal skills or money available to help their claim. Many of the prisoners' terms had long expired. An example of this was a patient named Charles who was sentenced to Bridgewater in 1910 for breaking and entering. The maximum time for this felony was two years, and he still remained in the prison after 1967. Furthermore in later news, it was found that the number of inmates at Bridgewater grew to 500. Many felt that society was not doing its job in distinguishing men that needed regular prison rehabilitation and psychiatric help. There needed to be changes in what constitutes a person to be sent to a mental hospital. Also among the changes that needed to be implemented were the confidentially between the inmates and the doctors as well as having a standard by which a person is considered mentally insane.^[3]

In 1967 a legislative committee investigated allegations of "cruel, inhuman, and barbarous treatment". There were witnesses who were able to describe problems with the water and sewage systems, insufficient medical, kitchen, and recreational facilities. As a result in 1972 John Boone, the Massachusetts Commissioner of Corrections, closed the segregation unit at Bridgewater State Hospital because it required maintenance. Bridgewater's facilities were not suitable for the standard means of health and living. There were 90-year-old cell blocks which did not have any toilets. Boone closed the Departmental Segregation Unit at Bridgewater to hold hearings for the sixteen inmates who had been transferred out of Norfolk.

Albert DeSalvo, who confessed to being the Boston Strangler, was an inmate at Bridgewater in 1967. He briefly escaped and was transferred to the maximum security prison at Walpole.^[4]

Many of the prisoners at Bridgewater State Hospital were not criminally insane people. This is evident with a man who painted a horse in 1938. He was sent to Bridgewater because he painted a horse with stripes to make it look like a zebra. He was a poor vendor whose occupation was selling fresh fruit. In order to appeal to the people and increase his sales, he painted the horse. He was later arrested at the age of 29 and charged with drunkenness. He died at the facility at an old age where he was only supposed to serve at Bridgewater for two years.^[5]

There was a time at the Bridgewater State Hospital when many of the inmates were there long after their sentence date. In 1968 over 250 cases were reviewed of forgotten men at Bridgewater. There were inmates that were at Bridgewater for over twenty-five years. Some inmates were transferred to Bridgewater from other jails and prison facilities and kept at Bridgewater for much longer than their sentences entailed.^[6]

Titicut Follies

Titicut Follies is a powerful documentary that showed the horrors of Bridgewater in 1967; its title is the name of the talent show the inmates would perform in every year. Filmmaker Frederick Wiseman observed the hospital for twenty-nine days, depicting the harsh treatment the inmates received by the guards and how the doctors were not aware of the proper treatment the inmates needed.

This was apparent with one inmate where he was classified as a paranoid schizophrenic. He came to Bridgewater for medical testing but ended up being a resident there. He received powerful medication that made his mental state worsen as time progressed. He went to a review board to explain that he did not need to be at Bridgewater because the treatment he was receiving was not proper for his well being. His case was not rare at Bridgewater.

Throughout the film, the viewer can see the mistreatment inmates received from the guards and the prisoners. There is one instance where the guards were harassing an inmate because his cell was not clean. He is obviously mentally ill and frustrated by the repeating questions the guards ask him about his cell but there is not much he can do. Furthermore, one inmate was not eating so he was force fed by one of the doctors at the facility. While force feeding him with a tube, the doctor is smoking a cigarette while the ashes are mixing with the water and other liquids he is giving him. The documentary at the same time flashed to the death of the same inmate. In addition, when the inmates were in their cell, they did not have any clothing.

Many of the inmates were not mentally insane, they were just sent there under rare circumstances. The documentary illustrates how some inmates were mentally unstable and others were considered to be normal.

Officer Deaths at Bridgewater

-Feb. 13, 1928- Night Watchman Wilfred Gerrior was beaten to death and strangled during an escape attempt.
-Feb. 13, 1928- Night Supervisor Eugene Amlaw was beaten to death during an escape attempt.
-January 1, 1942- Officer Howard Murphy was stabbed to death with a chisel during an escape attempt.
-January 1, 1942- Officer Franklin Weston was stabbed to death with a chisel during an escape attempt.
-January 1, 1942- Officer George Landry was stabbed to death with a chisel when he came to the aid of his fellow downed officers.

Notable prisoners

• Jesse Pomeroy^[7]

Albert De Salvo (The Boston Strangler)

Facility Address

Bridgewater State Hospital
20 Administration Road
Bridgewater, MA 02324
Phone: (508) 279-4500

References

External links

• Bridgewater State Hospital - Mass. Executive Office of Public Safety