North Carolina Hospital for Dangerous Insane
| The State Hospital for the Dangerous Insane | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Established | August 1901 |
| Closed | 1923 |
| Current Status | Demolished |
| Building Style | Single Building |
| Architect(s) | Levi Scofield |
| Location | Raleigh, North Carolina |
| Architecture Style | Gothic |
| Alternate Names | |
History[edit]
Established by the state in 1901 and was located on the grounds of the state penitentiary in Raleigh.
The State Hospital for the Dangerous Insane was established in 1901 and located within the existing State Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina, and served the entire state. Prior to the establishment of the hospital, the criminally insane patients had been placed under the care of the staff of the State Hospital at Raleigh, which was located across the street from the prison, and housed in one of the penitentiary buildings. Now that the care of the criminally insane was the full responsibility of the state prison, a skilled physician was hired to be in charge of the ward and would serve a four-year term before a new physician was appointed.
The criminally insane were housed in the west wing of the prison, in a four-story building that had been separated from the rest of the prison and opened as a separate institution in August of 1901. On the first floor was a ward for African-American males, the kitchen, dining room, and store rooms. The second floor served as the ward for white males and provided office space for the hospital steward. The third floor was entirely reserved for white males. The fourth floor housed two wards separated by partition: one side for white females and the other for African American females. A female attendant also lived on the fourth floor in her own apartment. There were eight “strong rooms” or isolation rooms for unruly patients and those who attempted escape. Meals were served to female patients in their ward. White male patients had their meals in the dining hall, while a portion of the kitchen was reserved for Black male patients.
The population as of April 1901 was 33, nearly all of whom had been inmates at the State Hospital in Raleigh or the State Prison. The majority of patients were guilty of serious crimes. A report from 1916 noted, “Practically all of them were hopelessly insane and in bad physical health by reason of long confinement or constitutional disease.” The majority of the patients came from rural districts in North Carolina and many of them farmers or laborers.
The population in the criminally insane ward steadily grew over the first ten years of it opening and soon became overcrowded. The prison was not receiving adequate funding to provide the care for the criminally insane. In 1907, the annual report of the prison stated that a new facility for the criminally insane was “urgently needed.” At the time, many insane patients were held in cells with the general population of the prison due to overcrowding in their own ward. A 1918 report noted that “the wards in which these people are confined are improvised, unsafe, and totally unsuited for such purpose.” Despite having a physician assigned to the ward, proper medical care and treatment often times was not given to all of the patients.
It soon became obvious that many of the inmates assigned to the criminally insane ward were not, in fact, dangerous, but born with mental deficiencies or were epileptic. A 1918 report stated that of the 67 inmates, some could “neither speak coherently nor feed themselves.” The report when on to describe the imprisonment of three children under the age of 15 “who are absolutely devoid of all reason and have been since birth.” While they were accused of legitimate crimes, two including assault with a deadly weapon, the prison board recognized that this was not the place for them. “There are many other similar cases,” the report said. “The majority of the patients give very little trouble to the management.”
In 1923, an Act of the General Assembly was passed that closed the State Hospital for the Dangerous Insane at the State Prison and instructed the prison to transfer patients to other state hospitals. White inmates were transferred to the State Hospital at Raleigh (Dix Hill), while Black inmates were transferred to the State Hospital at Goldsboro. Each ward was able to accommodate 150 patients. This was to ensure the patients received adequate care in a facility designed for that purpose and to relieve overcrowding at the prison.
State Prison at Raleigh, circa 1900. The State Hospital for the Dangerous Insane would have been the large four-story structure located at the far right.
State Prison at Raleigh postcard, circa 1910s.
Sanborn Map of State Prison at Raleigh, 1914.
