81 Comments Posted by DONNA

THIS IS BREATH TAKING.
TO PUT SOMETHING SO BEAUTIFUL IN SUCH A SAD PLACE.
DID THEY SAVE ANYTHING FROM IT?
OR DID THEY JUST DESTROY IT AS WELL?

YOU WOUD THINK THAT THIER WOULD BE ALOT OF SPIRIT ACTIVITY GOING ON.BUT OTHER THAN THE EYES IN THE DOOR ON THE LAST PIC I AM SEEING NOTHING SO FAR.

Ahhh new galleries, you made my birthday. Thanks Motts.

These buildings are so beautiful it's hard to imagine what terrible things that went on inside these walls

Bsmarcia

Everyone is forgetting that this was our clients home. Pennhurst was a "town" where all the retarded people were accepted for who they were just as they were.

Well, I don't know if someone put the shirt there or not, but there really were volunteers that were Candy Stripers when I worked there.

Did anyone realize that many of the retarded individuals had many deformaties? The different wheel may have been to accomodate a deformed hand. We did have many wheelchairs individualized for each client.

You should have seen it before it was looted and left to rot. It was really the grandest building in Pennhurst.

Anybody wonder what happened to all our Clients? I would like to know. Not every aide that worked there was an abuser. We did care for our clients. We would bring in things from home to make their lives a little brighter. Before we got more funding I remember bringing in soap so we didn't have to wash them with the pink state soap - anyone else remember? Don't condem unless you have lived the life.

The walls were cubicles. There were two to four clients in each cubicle with closets for their belongings. It was an attempt to give some privacy. There were no ceilings on the cubicles. The ceilings of the buildings were high and in order to have heat and light you could not box in the cubicles.

The wooden enclosures were to prevent injury from hot radiators and in case someone fell against them. It also protected the radiators from the clients.

The Mayflower building was used for Profoundly Retarded Handicapped Male clients. Most were confined to wheelchairs and a few ambulatory. All had some sort of disability. Speaking from experience, from the late 70's to just about closing.

to Former Employee

I sure as hell hope you did report that as abuse. If not SHAME ON YOU.

I worked there in the late 70's until almost closing. The only people I saw in a crib like that were those that were likely to fall out of bed. You have to remember until there was public outcry Pennhurst did have to work with what was available. After that newer beds and equipment came on the scenes. You are also seeing photos of things left to rot for 20 years and many things that were not in use when I worked there. Retarded persons are "Special" people now - before they were to be hidden. People did not talk about having a family member with a disability. Institutions did not make themselves People and Society did. At one time prisons and institutions were dumping grounds for the unwanted. Easier to forget them. Unfortunatly there was no seperate placement for the Insane, Retarded, Orphans, Deformities. Thankfully now there are and there is no need for larger institutions.

By the time this toy was manufactured there were no "children" at Pennhurst Center. There were only adults with the mental capacity of children.