Report on the Insane

"The conviction is continually deepened that hospitals are the only places where insane persons can be at once humanely and properly controlled. Poorhouses converted into madhouses cease to effect the purposes for which they were established, and instead of being asylums for the aged, the homeless, and the friendless, and places of refuge for orphaned or neglected childhood, are transformed into perpetual bedlams. . . .

Injustice is also done to the convicts. It is certainly very wrong that they should be doomed day after day and night after night to listen to the ravings of madmen and madwomen. This is a kind of punishment that is not recognized by our statutes, and is what the criminal ought not to be called upon to undergo. The confinement of the criminal and of the insane in the same building is subversive of the good order and discipline which should be observed in every well-regulated prison. . . .

Gentlemen, I commit to you this sacred cause. Your action upon this subject will affect the present and future condition of hundreds and of thousands."

Dorothea Dix, a 19th century
social reformer. Dix advocated
for improved conditions for
the mentally ill.
Image from www.wikipedia.org

During the 19^th century, mentally ill people were not treated well; they were kept in prisons with criminals, left in poor conditions, and many were chained and beaten. Dorothea Dix, an advocate for reform of this treatment, grew up with a mentally ill mother and an absent father, being raised mostly by her grandmother. Dix supported the idea that the mentally ill should not be incarcerated and should instead be placed in hospitals and asylums to try and cure them. As Dix spent 18 months examining conditions in Massachusetts jails and poorhouse, her claims are trustworthy. However, they may be slightly biased to make conditions seem worse than they were at the time, since this speech was presented to the Massachusetts legislature to improve conditions for the mentally ill. While this excerpt shows Dix’s arguments, it does not show the whole picture, as Dix shared many shocking stories of families affected by poor treatment of mentally ill. Dix uses her own observations to support her argument. Her use of logical progression of thought and emotionally provoking statements create an overall impression to the reader that the system is unfair and should be reformed. It was an effective impression, as the Massachusetts legislature eventually expanded an asylum, and Dix went on to inspect conditions of mentally ill prisoners in many other states.

American History, s.v. "Dorothea Dix: Report on the Insane (1843)," accessed January 11, 2015. http://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/.