Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Center
| Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Center | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Opened | 1916 |
| Current Status | Active |
| Building Style | Cottage Plan |
| Architect(s) | Charles B. Meyers |
| Location | New Hampton, NY |
| Architecture Style | Neo-Classical |
| Alternate Names |
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History
In 1916, a property in New Hampton became a city-run reformatory for boys. The reformatory was later taken over by the state and still later, in the 1970's, it was converted to a forensic psychiatric hospital to replace the old Matteawan asylum in Fishkill. Another property in nearby Chester was operated as a farm colony for women offenders. Today, it is a shelter for homeless New York City men.
Today Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Center (MHFPC) is a secure adult psychiatric center that provides a comprehensive program of evaluation, treatment, and rehabilitation for patients admitted by court order. These admissions are consequent to judicial findings of "incompetent to stand trial" or "not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect." [1]It is home to more than 250 men and women deemed both mentally ill and too violent for society. It is the largest forensic facility in New York state.
Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Center will close by 2017 under a consolidation plan by the state Office of Mental Health. The closure is included in a plan to overhaul the state’s psychiatric services over the next four years by consolidating 24 inpatient hospitals statewide into 15 regional centers and establishing more than two dozen outpatient service hubs.
The names of current and former patients at the Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Center are confidential for medical reasons. But a review of old news accounts reveals a few of the more notorious patients to call Mid-Hudson home through the years:
- Archie Bristol: In 1998, Bristol strangled his roommate, Anthony Pizzo, with a ligature made from a pair of socks. At his sentencing, Bristol said, "Did I feel bad about it later? Yes. Did I feel bad about it at the time? No."
- Adam Berwid: In 1978, on Long Island, Berwid fatally stabbed his wife in the neck. Then, with his two children, he sat up all night over the body. He signed for a telegram for his wife the next morning. The telegram warned her that Berwid had escaped from another psychiatric facility.
- Marie Conklin: In 1998, Conklin, of Middletown, stabbed her toddler to death then stabbed herself. In jail, while she was pregnant, she stabbed herself again.
- Paul Harnisch: In 1999, former Orange County Assistant District Attorney Paul Harnisch, driving his wife's Volvo, ran down a man in-line skating on the Heritage Trail in Chester.
- Larry Logan: Logan, formerly of Newburgh, battered to death a hospital worker at Rockland Psychiatric Center in 1987. He thought she was slipping him birth control pills instead of his medicine.
- Albert Fentriss: In 1979, Fentriss, a Poughkeepsie social studies teacher, shot and killed an 18-year-old man. He sexually mutilated the body, then cooked and ate part of the body. [2]
