Pennhurst State School: Suffer the Little Children Video

Founded in 1903, Pennhurst State School in Spring City, Pennsylvania was a hospital for the feeble minded and epileptic people. There have been many documentaries made about this facility called the Pennhurst State School.

The American public knew the Pennhurst State School in 1968 in a five part series by a local NBC station. This video is entitled "Suffer the Little Children" and is not suitable for all viewers. I have found seven parts of the video on YouTube and included all of them within this article.

Part One of the news report shows patients in cribs as well as walking, and it describes all patients as children both the young and old alike. Severely mentally challenged adults with the mentality of a child, were called children.

Part Two of this news report states that nine full time doctors and two psychiatrists were in charge of 2800 children of all ages, at the Pennhurst State Hospital. One doctor interviewed stated that children of higher IQ's were intentionally placed with children of lower IQ's together so the smarter ones could be forced to lose their dignity. When the children lose their dignity they are more complacent, he states.

He also states that he has drugged children so that they are more complacent and less a danger to others. Johnny who is a patient is interviewed, appears to be a child of 10 or so and has been there all of his life. His story is heart breaking. The doctor says this boy was not mentally deficient but his parents were and that is why he was admitted.

Part Three of the news report on Pennhurst State Hospital. We learn that the hospital can spend $5.90 per day, and with 80% of that going for admin costs. This means only $0.75 cents a day can be spend on patients, so it's no wonder crowding and neglect were rampant in the building. The dietary person stated that patients do get well-balanced meals, even those patients who must eat pureed food.

A hospital official was interviewed and he stated that official from the state of Pennsylvania had visited the building. That official stated the state officials promised them money to upgrade and repair the buildings so they were adequate for the number of patients. That same official says if the state seen other parts of structure the building would be closed.

Part Four opens with a mentally retarded boy about 10-12 yrs old playing with a stacker that an infant would play with. The child shown is learning skills with these actions that an infant would. This child does seem to be quite happy, and he is one of the lucky ones who got a basic education.

The opening parts of this portion seem to be on the education aspect of the Pennhurst State School and Hospital. In the cafeteria scene, one may wonder how many of the children who cannot feed themselves, went hungry each day because there was no one to feed them.

Part Five talks with the children, and we hear the voices of children who wish to get out. Only 7% of patients were enrolled in the rehab programs at the school at the Pennhurst State Hospital that is 200 students out of 2800 kids were given the chance of an education. Staffing shortages, money limits, and overcrowding limits children who could benefit from the programs.

Visitors also see patients in cribs, laying on floors and sitting in chairs. You see many children sitting in a room rocking back and forth on the floor, lost in their own world of misery.

Five minutes into this clip the doctor is interviewed about a patient who went around hurting other patients. He tells how he punished this patient by giving him the most painful shot. The doctor talks as if this type of punishment is acceptable. It's awful to see how callus this doctor sounded.

Part Six, and Part Seven also detail the inhumane conditions at the Pennhurst State Hospital. Thank goodness, this institution closed in 1987.

Ghost Adventures did investigation at the Pennhurst State Hospital and I did include a video of their report here as well. We see the team checking out the noises; unexplained vomiting sounds and it is all unedited as it happened. Visitors of course, see Pennhurst years after the children left.

Resources:

http://www.pennhurstasylum.com/

http://www.opacity.us/site30_pennhurst_state_school.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennhurst_State_School_and_Hospital

http://www.elpeecho.com/pennhurst/2007-09-18PersonalAccount.htm

http://pennhurstproject.com/