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Psychiatry and Law: The Cost to Society

"Asked why she had not been released in view of her many requests for freedom since that time, Dr. Scott said that the woman was without relatives and it had been feared that she would become a public charge.

"While a patient at that hospital, Miss Dean performed the duties of a registered nurse, without pay."

But the abuses which occur under the civil commitment statutes are exceeded (in degree, though not in number) by the effects of criminal commitments. Through claims of either "incompetency to stand trial" or "not guilty by reason of insanity," thousands of accused criminals have spent decades imprisoned in institutions that authorities benignly call "hospitals for the criminally insane." In the vast majority of cases, these people have been convicted of no crime. The medical and legal problems that they present have been reversed and confused, since a psychiatrist's statement that there is mental illness is enough to cause incarceration in these institutions. But the euphemism of "hospital" rarely corresponds to the reality.

TAKE BRIDGEWATER. According to Paul Tamburello, President of the Massachusetts Bar Association, "The present medical staff is able to see less than half of the 650 men in the hospital once a year, and then for only 20 minutes." After a personal study last year, he described the conditions as follows:

"None of the cells has a toilet. Every cell has a solid wood door, with a small peek-hole, and an uncovered bucket for toilet purposes. In the morning the men bring their buckets to a central depository. . . . There is not a thermostat in the entire 87-year-old institution. When it is too hot, the windows are opened. When it is too cold, there is no relief.

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"Last December the temperature in three hospital sections fell to 39 in the daytime. . . . The superintendent and his men brought in a hay dryer from the barn, rigged it up Rube Goldberg style, and this helped push hot air to the sections involved . . . water coming into the hospital has been found to be polluted."

Frederick Wiseman's award-winning documentary, "Titicut Follies," attempts to bring these conditions to public attention. But it cannot be seen at any public theatre in the country. The film has been banned by order of the Court in Massachusetts, and the Commonwealth has sued its producer, Grove Press. It is curious, indeed, that a film which has been honored in the New York Film Festival, won first prize in the Mannheim Film Festival in Germany, and two of the three prizes in the Festival dei Populi in Italy, cannot be seen by the citizens of this state.

The Authorities

And it is ironic to note the passion with which Massachusetts authorities have prevented the film from being seen and the fervor of their prosecution of the producer and director for "violating the rights of patients" and for "breach of contract." This apparent concern for the "rights" of patients seems hardly compatible with the stark reality of Bridgewater State Hospital.

Recent studies comparing Bridgewater with Walpole State Prison have shown that on almost every objective standard, Walpole is far superior. Besides having better physical conditions, prisoners in Walpole know when they will be released. Bridgewater inmates don't have this luxury. The first question for the Bridgewater inmate is, "Will I be released?"

Matteo Calacocci was seven years old when he stole $7 from the counter of a North End grocery store. That was in 1927. After being judged "incompetent to stand trial," he was sent to the Lyman School, where he was found "not feeble-minded," "not psychotic," and of "average" intelligence. Transferred to Worcester State Hospital in 1930 and to Boston State in 1933, he attempted to escape in 1935 and was transferred to the maximum security facility at Bridgewater. His records show that he was charged with "bad habits" and with "resisting authority."

Matteo Calacocci was released in 1963, after 28 years in Bridgewater. And he was lucky. He was lucky, that is, if you compare his case to others who still remain in Bridgewater. The records speak for themselves: J.D., committed as incompetent to stand trial on May 1, 1935, still awaiting trial on a charge of simple assault and battery; W.K., committed February 11, 1951, still waiting to be tried for disturbing the peace; J.M., committed September 14, 1921, still awaiting trial for breaking and entering. These men and hundreds of others in similar positions at Bridgewater and at other state mental institutions await trials which may never take place.

Senator Beryl Cohen (D-Brook-

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