Brick and mortar reminders of Georgia’s mistreatment of psychiatric patients could be erased soon

Thousands of Georgians were once confined to the world’s largest mental institution, authorized by the state in 1837 as the “Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum.” The Milledgeville asylum’s miserable conditions were infamous with practices of the time like lobotomy and electroshock therapy as well as primitive tactics like metal cages, straitjackets and involuntary sterilizations.

The nearly 13,000 patients were served by just 48 “doctors,” some of whom were patients at the asylum themselves. In 2007, 42 suspicious deaths at the asylum, which had been downsized and renamed Central State Hospital, spurred a U.S. Department of Justice investigation, and by 2010, the state announced that most of the asylum would be closed for good. 

But now, the state is demolishing three prominent buildings at Central State Hospital – and wiping away some of the brick-and-mortar testament to the darker side of Georgia’s history. In July, Gov. Brian Kemp issued an executive order allowing the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to demolish three main buildings that sit on what is known as the campus’ pecan grove: Walker, Green and Jones. The iconic Powell building, which was the original building, would be left untouched.