Alabama State Hospitals

Authorities:

Alabama Government Manual. Sixth edition. Atlanta: Darby Printing Company, 1982.

Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1979. Montgomery: Skinner Printing Company, 1979.

Code of Alabama, 1958, Title 45, Sec. 189-230. Charlottesville: The Michie Company, 1959.

Code of Alabama, 1975, 22:50:1-22:50:62. Charlottesville: The Michie Company, 1984.

Markley, Anne Ethelyn. Author Headings of the Official Publications of the State of Alabama. Chicago: American Library Association, 1948.

Owen, Thomas McAdory. History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, Vol. III. Chicago: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1921.

The earliest attempt by the state to provide for the mentally ill was in 1852 Feb., when the Legislature established the Ala. Insane Hospital at Tuscaloosa. To supervise the acquisition of property and construction of buildings, a three-member Board of Trustees was instituted. Later, a president and six trustees were appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The trustees served for six years, and it was required that three of them reside in Tuscaloosa Co. The members received no salary but were compensated for travel expenses. Initially, five percent of state revenue was set aside for the management of the hospital, the funds being administered by the State Treasurer.

It was the responsibility of the Board of Trustees to make all the regulations for the hospital, to fix the salaries for all employed there, to keep records of all proceedings and accurate accounts of all expenditures. A financial statement was submitted to the Secretary of State and a general report was sent to the Governor each year. One member of the Board was required to visit the hospital every week. A major responsibility of the Board was to select a Superintendent.

The Legislature specified that the Superintendent be "a skillful physician, of unblemished moral character, married, and that he reside with his family at the institution." He appointed all assistant physicians, nurses, servants, and employees, exercised full control over them, and discharged them at his pleasure. He served a term of eight years. (Acts of Ala. 1852, No. 5)

The hospital was required to receive insane patients from the counties "in the ratio of their insane population; provided, the counties report to the Secretary of State the census of their insane persons," in an annual report compiled by the judge of probate.

The Legislature established procedures whereby persons were committed to the hospital. All persons convicted of crimes punishable by death or imprisonment who were adjudged to be insane, were committed at the State's expense. All persons adjudged insane who were indigent could be committed upon the testimony of two "respectable" citizens and the concurring examination of a qualified physician; the expense of their confinement was borne by the county.

For those patients who could pay for their treatment a different procedure was followed. Either the patient or his relatives presented the Superintendent a receipt from the State Treasurer for three months' charges in advance along with a certificate from his physician stating that the patient was free from any disease; the patient's age and a brief history of his condition, the duration of his insanity, dating from the first symptoms; the supposed cause of his insanity; whether or not his insanity was hereditary; whether or not he was subject to epilepsy; whether he had ever attempted suicide; and the type of treatment previsouly prescribed. The family of the patient was required to post bond for his good behavior during his confinement, to supply him with suitable clothing on a regular basis; in the event of his escape, to pay all costs required to return him; and in the event of his death, to pay the costs of his funeral. (Acts of Ala. 1852, No. 5)

The Board of Trustees selected as Superintendent Dr. Peter Bryce. Educated in New York and Europe, Bryce was twenty-six years old at the time of his appointment in 1860. He was one of the early advocates of non-restraint in the treatment of the mentally ill. He published numerous articles in American and European medical journals on new ways to treat the mentally ill and the criminally insane. A commission of British physicians visiting the U.S. in the 1880s specifically commended Bryce's efforts to provide "scientific, Christian and humane" treatment to the patients of the Ala. Hospital. He served as Superintendent for over thirty years. (Owen, Vol. III, p. 244)

1861 Feb. the Legislature authorized the State Treasurer to pay one quarter of the cost of maintaining indigent patients. The remaining three quarters continued to be the responsibility of the home county of the patient. (Acts of Ala. 1861, No. 20)

1861 Dec. the Legislature authorized the physician at the State Penitentiary to report to the Governor the names of all insane convicts. The Governor appointed two physicians who, together with the prison doctor, examined those so designated and transferred each one considered to be "a fit subject for the State Insane Hosptial." If the prisoner recovered his sanity before his term of imprisonment had expired, he was either returned to the penitentiary or discharged, at the Governor's discretion. (Acts of Ala. 1861, No. 301)

The following year the Legislature amended the above act to the extent that it only applied to convicts not serving life terms, whose general conduct in prison had been good, whose conduct prior to conviction had been good, and who had not been convicted of rape. (Acts of Ala. 1862, No. 88)

1864 Dec. the Legislature declared that suits for or against the State Insane Hospital could only be brought in the courts of Tuscaloosa Co. (Acts of Ala. 1864, No. 152)

1867 Jan. the Superintendent was authorized to transfer to the county poor house those indigent patients who had been confined for at least two years whom he considered "unlikely to benefit by continued residence at the hospital" or no longer dangerous to the community.

Also at that time, four percent of the poll tax was allocated for the maintenance of the hospital. (Acts of Ala. 1867, No. 236)

1871 Feb. the Legislature appropriated $25,000 to expand the hospital to accommodate one hundred new beds. (Acts of Ala. 1871, No. 182)

1873 Mar. the Legislature exempted the Superintendent, physicians, assistants and employees from militia service, liability to work on the public roads and highways, and jury duty. (Acts of Ala. 1873, No. 62)

1876 Mar. the state assumed total cost of the care and maintenance of the indigent and the criminally insane. (Acts of Ala. 1876, No. 156)

1887 Feb. the Legislature expanded the Superintendent's authority to discharge patients. He could discharge a patient who, in his opinion, had recovered from the attack of insanity; or had so improved as to be capable of caring for himself; or when the friends or the probate judge of his county had requested the discharge of a patient whom the Superintendent no longer considered dangerous; or who, if a paying patient, had failed to pay his hospital expenses.

The Superintendent was authorized to grant furloughs to "harmless and convalescent" patients for a period not exceeding six months, provided that such furlough was requested by the patient's family or friends, who were required to pay all his traveling expenses to and from the hospital.

The Legislature determined that patients at the hospital were entitled to the benefit of writ of habeas corpus, and could demand a court hearing to determine that they were sane and therefore worthy to be discharged.

The criteria for the types of patients to be admitted were also reworded. The word "insane" was taken to mean "any person who, by reason of unsoundness of mind resulting from diseases of the brain, was incapable of managing and caring for his estate; or was dangerous to himself or others, if permitted to go at large; or was in such condition of mind or body as to be a fit subject for care and treatment in the hospital for the insane. No person idiotic or imbecile from birth, or whose mental development was arrested by disease or physical injury prior to puberty," or any person suffering from epilepsy, was to be regarded as insane "unless the manifestations of abnormal excitability, violence, or homicidal, suicidal impulses were such as to render his confinement in the hospital a proper precaution to prevent him from injuring himself or others." (Acts of Ala. 1887, No. 15)

An additional act of the Legislature that year provided for the construction of buildings on the grounds of the hospital to accommodate "the colored insane" of the state. The members of the Board of Trustees residing in Tuscaloosa Co. and the Superintendent of the hospital constituted a building commission for this purpose. They were empowered to select the site and to adopt plans, designs, and specifications, and make all necessary contracts and agreements for the erection of the buildings.

The sum of $20,000 was appropriated for the construction. (Acts of Ala. 1887, No. 18)

1889 Feb. the Legislature provided for the establishment of a Commission of Lunacy to investigate the cases of persons confined to the hospital who had been adjudged criminally insane, or those who had been sent to the hospital after a court had found them not guilty by reason of insanity. The Commission was composed of three members, two physicians and one lawyer, "versed in the medical jurispurdence of insanity," who were appointed by the Governor for a term of six years. The Commissioners were paid six dollars each day they were engaged in their official duties and the same mileage expenses allowed members of the Legislature.

It was the duty of the Commission "to investigate and hear evidence concerning the alleged sanity of any inmate belonging to the class of the criminal insane," and to report the result of their investigation to the Governor with recommendations as to the patients' discharge or continued confinement in the hospital.

Based on the Commission's report or inspite of it, the Governor could order the discharge or continued confinement of any inmate patient. No subsequent investigation by the Commission of the same inmate patient could take place less than six months after the last investigation.

The Commission was authorized to ensure that the Superintendent provide suitable accommodations for the safe custody of inmate patients, and that those accommodations be separate from the other patients at the hosptial. Every inmate patient was entitled to the benefit of writ of habeas corpus, and could petition the court to secure his release from the hospital. (Acts of Ala. 1889, No. 429)

Dr. Peter Bryce died in 1892, having served as Hosptial Superintendent since 1860. In recognition of his many contributions and years of service, the Legislature in 1893 Feb. renamed the institution "The Ala. Bryce Insane Hospital." Dr. James Searcy was selected by the Board of Trustees to serve as Superintendent. (Acts of Ala. 1893, No. 171; Owen, Vol. III, p. 1518)

1900 Dec. the Legislature incorporated the Ala. Bryce Insane Hospital at Tuscaloosa and property in Mobile Co. known as the Mt. Vernon Barracks Military Reservation, both institutions to be jointly managed as the "Ala. Insane Hospitals." The Tuscaloosa facility was thereafter known as "the Bryce Hospital."

The Mt. Vernon property had been ceded to the state in 1895 Mar. by the U.S. Dept. of War, having served as a hospital for U.S. sailors and marines. The State intended to use the facility to relieve over-crowded conditions at Bryce Hospital, specifically to accomadate the increasing number of black patients.

The term of office of the Board of Trustees was increased from six to seven years. Of the seven members of the Board, at least four were required to be physicians, three to be residents of or near Tuscaloosa, and two to be residents of or near Mt. Vernon. (Acts of Ala. 1900, No. 147)

The sum of $25,000 was appropriated for the renovation of existing buildings and the construction of new buildings at the Mt. Vernon Hospital. (Acts of Ala. 1900, No. 26)

1915 Sept. the Legislature authorized the Board of Trustees of the Ala. Insane Hospitals "to manage and control other allied institutions, such as places for the care and treatment of inebriates, epileptics, harmless dements, the feeble-minded, and the like." Such persons previously were not admitted to the State's institutions, or only on a very limited basis. (Acts of Ala. 1915, No. 732)

1919 Sept. the Legislature created a home and school for mental deficients or inferiors, located on the grounds of Bryce Hosptial, Tuscaloosa. The new facility was known as "The Ala. Home."

The Home was managed by a Board of Managers, composed of the Governor as ex-officio member, the Board of Trustees of the Ala. Insane Hospitals, and three other members, two of whom were women. These three members were appointed by the Board of Trustees of the Ala. Insane Hospitals for a term of seven years.

The Superintendent of the Ala. Insane Hospitals appointed a Superintendent of the Home, with the advice and consent of the Board of Managers of the Home. The Superintendent of the Ala. Home was directly responsible to the Superintendent of the Ala. Insane Hospitals. It was required that the Superintendent of the Home be "a graduate physican with experience and training in the specialty of psychiatry, a married man of high moral character and refinement."

It was the responsibility of the Superintendent of the Home to manage and conduct all the affairs of the home, to appoint all officers and employees, to fix their salaries or wages, to direct their services and dismiss them with the advice and approval of the Superintendent of the Ala. Insane Hospitals.

By "mental inferiors, deficients, or feeble-minded" was meant "all persons of whatever age who are deficient or inferior to the extent of being classed in either of the following groups of the feeble-minded: idiots, imbeciles, feeble-minded or morons, and any of whom may or may not be epileptics, but not violent or insane; or every person with such a degree of mental defectiveness from birth, or from an early age, that he is unable to care for himself or to manage his affairs with ordinary prudence, or that he is a menace to the happienss or safety of himself or of others in the community, and requires care, supervision, and control either for his own protection or for the protection of others.

"It is specifically recognized that the greatest danger which the feeble-minded constitute to the community lies in the frequency of the passing on of mental defect from one generation to another. Any person within the above named class, over the age of five years, and a resident of the State for more than a year, may be committed to the Home." (Acts of Ala. 1919, No. 704)

Any resident of the Home who became insane, violent, or unmanageable could be transferred to the Ala. Insane Hospitals; likewise, any resident of the Insane Hospitals found not be be insane but to be a mental inferior or deficient could be transferred to the Home upon written order of the Superintendent of the Insane Hosptials.

The Board of Managers was charged to provide separate buildings for the residents according to age, sex, color, and grade of deficiency or inferiority; to provide them with employment and training in farming, gardening, mechanics or other useful industries; and to make provisions for schools, church worship, amusement and diversion conducive to their health, happiness, and moral and mental improvement.

It was the responbility of the Superintendent of Insane Hospitals to examine persons referred to him by any poor house, jail, orphanage or boarding school, to determine if they should be admitted to the home.

The Legislature appropriated $50,000 each year for four successive years for the construction and maintenance of the Ala. Home. (Acts of Ala. 1919, No. 704)

1919 Sept. the Legislature renamed the Mt. Vernon Insane Hospital, Mobile Co., "The Searcy Hospital" in honor of Dr. James Searcy, who had srved as Superintendent of Ala. Insane Hospitals from 1892 to 1919. He was succeeded as Superintendent by Dr. William D. Partlow. (Acts of Ala. 1919, No. 641)

1927 Sept. the Legislature renamed the Ala. Home "The Partlow State School for Mental Deficients."

In the Code of Ala. 1940, the corporation known as the Ala. Insane Hospitals was designated "The Ala. State Hospitals," and all subsequent references appear thus. (Markley, p. 93)

1945 July the Legislature made new provisions for the discharge of patients from the Ala. State Hospitals. The Superintendent of the Hospitals was authorized to inform the friends and relatives of a patient when the patient had been restored to a normal or comparatively safe and good mental condition sufficiently long to warrant his return home. If the patient's friends or relatives failed to pay the necessary traveling expenses from the hospital to the patient's home, the Superintendent was directed to notify the county judge of probate and require the commissioners of the patient's county to pay the expenses. (Acts of Ala. 1945, No. 448)

1956 Feb. the Legislature authorized the issuance of bonds not exceeding $4,000,000 for the acquisition of building sites, for the construction and renovation of building facilities, for the procurement of equipment at the Ala. State Hospitals and the Partlow State School for Mental Deficients. The members of the Ala. Building Commission and the Superintendent of the Ala. State Hospitals constituted the Ala. State Hospitals and Partlow State School Bond Commission with full authority for the sale and issuance of bonds. The Governor served as chairman, the Superintendent of the Ala. State Hospitals as treasurer, and the State Budget Officer as ex-officio secretary.

The bonds paid three percent interest after twenty years. The proceeds from the sale of bonds was set apart in a special trust fund known as the Ala. State Hospitals and Partlow State School Bond Fund. (Acts of Ala. 1956, No. 85)

1965 Sept. the Legislature established the Dept. of Mental Health, consolidating the Ala. State Hospitals, Partlow State School and Hospital, the Ala. Commission on Alcoholism, and other related agencies. (Acts of Ala. 1965, No. 881)

From the description of Agency history record. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 145408166