4,081 Comments for Norwich State Hospital

Someone wore those clothes, someone hung those curtains, someone bought and sat in that chair, someone opened that dresser, SOMEONE PAINTED THOSE WALLS TURQUOISE ONCE, so much history, it is truly fascinating!

Typicaly yes there are different facilities for each class, now. But Even though the hospital closed in 1996, the Salmon Buiding closed even before then and patients were sent to different facilities. When the Salmon Building was being used the term used most ofter was "Criminally Insane", there was no "Not Guilty be reason of mental disease or defect", "Not compntant to stand trial". If a person with any sort of mental illness commited a crime (usually a violent crime), the were deemed "Criminally Insane". And many times they were treated no better than animals, unlike the present day when they are separated into different categories and watch to make sure that they don't hurt themselves and get the help they actually need these people were placed here so that they couldn't hurt others but could not be placed in a regular prison because they were "Insane", really not long before they were placed in regular prisons and usually did not live more than a couple of years after being placed in the regular prison, suicide or murder was how many of them died, at est at the hospital they weren't going to be murdered because some inmate didn't like the fact that they acted "funny". Also on another note though many people who had mental illness were placed in prisons for no reason other than the fact that people didn't understand tham and were scared of them, before Mental Hospitals became the place to place the mentally ill.

The Salmon House was used to house people that were found to be "Criminally Insane" and had been commited there. As for the damage that they could do to themselves, many didn't care at that time as long as they were locked up society really didn't care how they were treated.

I can picture myself on the stage, performing ballet and doing my pirouettes across the stage, then disappearing into a mysterious mist...

@teresa-I like your positive attitude with your sense of triumph! It's amazing how much we humans can overcome in the midst of tragedy. It's a shame that the nurses lacked compassion-that's what people need the most.

i was born with congenital defects and spent much of my childhood in these types of hospitals (designed for adults) In the early seventies visiting hours meant no parents as well. The nurses with the white uniforms and starched hats, and frequent lack of compassion-the metal beds and cold floors....bring back memories of isolation but also triumph as i am still here...and the buildings have crumbled.

So sad, lonely, and faraway...

Funny, I've been in four different hospitals and in only one was the bathroom not part of the room (though it was right outside the door). And I live in a state with one of the lowest mental health budgets in the country.

On another note, I didn't think we were allowed to tear people apart on this site, particularly on pages like this one, where former psych patients (such as myself) might post.

Ah, deinstitutionalization. Great in theory; in practice just an excuse to cut funding and turn the mentally ill out into the streets -- or let them rot away in prison.

Just to clarify, an individual can be found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect *or* not competent to stand trial. There are typically different facilities for each class.

That should have been "those *who* were deemed unfit to assist in their own defense."

Ugh, I hate it when I leave out words. I think faster than I type.

Lack of funding is no excuse for mistreatment, nor is ignorance. While it certainly isn't common, it did and does happen even today in psychiatric hospitals. The last time I went inpatient, I met a woman who was attacked (on camera) by a poorly-trained tech at the state hospital simply she kicked a wall -- after being medicated up to her eyeballs by disinterested doctors and uncaring nurses.

On another note, was this unit for treatment for those who were found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect or those were deemed unfit to assist in their own defense? There is a difference.

OMG as a child I was put there by my father. The state had to fight to get me out. The state won but I spent 9 months on Kettle North 3. What a horrible thing for a 12 year old. I still have nightmares.

This just became my background.

Decent old barber chairs are hard to find now a days. Someone could fix these up and convert them for use, and receive a nice profit on them. My barber complains every time I visit how hard it is to find a decent chair.