Hacker Cinema
The Other Side of Hell
1978 · Film · 149 min
Directed by Ján Kadár
A disturbed, but highly intelligent man is sent to a criminally insane hospital to serve time and rehabilitate. But when he arrives, he discovers it's in fact a closed world where brutality is an everyday occurrence.
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2 comments on Hacker News
> If they are imprisoning people illegally, I imagine the settlements would be quite high per patient.
That depends on whether or not anyone cares about the patient.
Many, many psych patients have basically been disowned by their families, they have no friends, and don't have the ability to live on their own in society. Maybe the lawyers would care enough about them, if they could win a suit, but I'd not bet on that.
I'd suspect that a huge number of homeless folks were ones that would have been "lifers" in mental hospitals. The enormous homeless problem in the US is actually relatively new. I remember when it was much, much less of a problem (We have always had them, but nowhere near the scale we have them, now).
We live in a nation, where it is easier for mentally ill people to get weapons, than help[0].
That said, in MD, where I lived for a while, we had The Patuxent Institution[1]. It may still be around. Charming place. It inspired this movie[2].
[0] https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/08/24/nx-s1-5028551/insurance-therapy-therapist-mental-health-coverage
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patuxent_Institution
[2] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078043/
In the US, I guarantee that compulsory psychiatry would become corrupt in just a couple of years. You'd find people being sent to institutions for the mildest of infractions.
Back in the 1970s, there was a movie I watched, starring Alan Arkin, called The Other Side of Hell[0].
It was modeled on The Patuxent Institution[1], which has known some controversy[2].
There's a story (I think the movie references it), where someone was admitted for thirty days, for losing their shit at a traffic stop, and ended up doing thirty years.
It's a Real Bad Place. I met someone that did nine years, there, but he earned it.
[0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078043/
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patuxent_Institution
[2] https://www.petition2congress.com/ctas/citizens-against-cruel-unusual-punishment-at-patuxent-institution