#the asylum as prison

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"We don’t know a lot. I’m guessing the three men never met in life. Two were buried in the summer of 1915. In February 1916, the third of them died. They might have known each other before they got to Kingston — but since we don’t know where they came from, or when they arrived, there’s no way of knowing. They weren’t the only ones who died in captivity — 20 men succumbed after being confined in Kingston’s Rockwood Asylum for the Criminally Insane, also known as the Rockwood Lunatic Asylum. Eight were misidentified as “Austrians” while the other 12 were Germans. All were branded as “enemy aliens” during Canada’s first national internment operations of 1914-1920. “Dozens” of those deemed “insane,” collected from various asylums across Canada, were among the 2,000 or so “aliens” returned to Europe after the war. The first repatriates sailed in July 1919 aboard the SS Sicilian. The last batch were on the SS Melita, which steamed east from St. John in March 1920. None of them had any choice. They were deported whence they came.

The Rockwood three we know something about were named Dezső Benscura, Walter Grooham and Andreas Moritsky. Whether those are accurate renderings of their names, recorded by immigration officials or jailers who had little knowledge or interest in the languages, nations or faith groups of eastern Europe, I can’t say. As noted on Sept. 30, 1920, in a final report tabled by General Sir William Desmond Otter, the officer in charge of the Office of Internment Operations, 8,579 men along with 81 women and 156 children, were herded into 24 camps behind Canadian barbed wire. Of that number, 106, a majority of them “Austrians,” were deemed “insane” and placed in provincial institutions — at Ponoka, Alta.; Essondale, B.C.; Brandon, Man.; Hamilton, Rockwood, and Mimico, Ont.; St Jean de Dieu, Que.; with three other internees hospitalized in Nova Scotia. Only one man, an “Austrian,” died of “insanity.” What killed the other two at Rockwood is not preserved in the historical record.

Gen. Otter claimed that “great care was observed in having the cause of death established and recorded, the place of burial marked, due regard being paid to the latter ceremony, while the effects of the deceased were cared for and whenever possible their nearest of kin informed.”

Records were kept about some deaths, like the names of the six men killed attempting to escape including the dates on which they were shot. And perhaps the possessions of some of the 107 deceased internees were, somehow, returned to their families. But the three buried in Kingston were laid to rest in unmarked graves, somewhere within the confines of St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, no one knows exactly where. That they ended up in this burial ground is likely because they were Catholics, as many immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire would have been. Or perhaps it was because their mortal remains were not wanted at the Cataraqui Cemetery, a territory then reserved for this city’s Anglo-Celtic and Protestant elites.

Were they buried close to each other? No one knows. Was a prayer said over each man before he was covered, as Gen. Otter wrote? I hope so. But I doubt that any of their family members or friends left in the “old country” — somewhere in that multinational, multi-confessional, and multilingual Austro-Hungarian Empire that would itself disintegrate at the end of the First World War — would ever find out what happened. These men simply disappeared. Having left their homelands hoping for a better life they never suspected that arriving with an Austro-Hungarian passport would mark them, under the terms of the War Measures Act, as “enemy aliens,” subject to detention and forced labour. Even more galling was that they knew they had done no wrong. They had immigrated legally. They were not criminals. And yet, following the outbreak of the Great War, they found themselves suddenly treated as prisoners-of-war, without just cause. Thousands of Ukrainians and other Europeans suffered various state-sanctioned indignities. For many, the racism and xenophobia they endured would be debilitating." - Lubomyr Luciuk, "They will be remembered together," Kingston Whig-Standard. July 14, 2023. Opium Column.

#kingston ontario #death in custody #internment camps #enemy aliens #ukrainian canadians #ukrainian immigration to canada #world war 1 canada #rockwood asylum #the asylum as prison #dangerous foreigners #politics of memory #world war 1 #graveyard #canadian history

[pazzesco]

Van Gogh's Finale

Vincent van Gogh - Prisoners' Round (1890)

Prisoners' Round (after Gustave Doré) - 1890

Prisoners' Round (after Gustave Doré), also known as Prisoners Exercising, is an 1890 oil painting by Vincent van Gogh. This late work was painted at Saint-Paul Asylum in Saint-Rémy, where Vincent was incarcerated during the final year of his life. The painting was inspired by an 1872 engraving by Gustave Doré of the exercise yard (le bagne) at Newgate Prison.

Van Gogh suffered an attack of mental ill health in 1888, and he was detained in a mental hospital from May 1889 to May 1890. The director of the hospital, Dr. Peillon, and Van Gogh's brother, Theo, encouraged Vincent to paint in order to aid his recovery. Unable to go out to paint from life, he turned to copying other works, including photographs and engravings. Rather than copying Doré's print, he worked from a more distinct woodblock reproduction by Héliodore Pisan (below).

Héliodore Pisan's woodblock reproduction of Gustave Doré's engraving "Prisoners walking round the exercise-yard (le bagne) at Newgate Prison."

Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo that he found it difficult to execute this work.

in July 1890, just a few months following his release from the asylum, Van Gogh shot himself. This was one of the works displayed around his coffin before his funeral. Émile Bernard wrote of "Prisoners' Round - the painting of convicts walking in a circle surrounded by high prison walls, has a terrifying ferocity which is also symbolic of his end. Wasn't life like that for him, a high prison like this with such high walls – so high … and these people walking endlessly round this pit, weren't they the poor artist, the poor damned souls walking past under the whip of Destiny?"

Prisoners Exercising, 1890 (detail - tilt-shift perspective distortion)

Corridor in the Asylum - 1889

Interior view of one of the asylum’s corridors. Despite his colorful palette, the sharply receding corridor feels hollow and haunted. Van Gogh sent the drawing to his brother Theo to give him an impression of his new surroundings.

#vincent van gogh #vincent #gustave doré #Theo #Prisoners' Round #Héliodore Pisan #Prisoners Exercising #Émile Bernard #Corridor in the Asylum

[missm0rgue]

But nobody cares if you're losing yourself,

Am I losing myself? 📺🩸☠️

#i know that the song is about prison and the drawing is mental-asylum core I DON'T CARE !!! the one lyric fits #my chemical romance #mcr #gerard way #my chemical fucking romance #emo #mcr art #tw blood #mental hospital #send help #i did this cause i was bored its not even that good but it was fun #Spotify

[llamagoddessofficial]

Hello hello! I’ve a been a fan of your stuff for a little while but I always get confused with how many AUs you have! For the sake of me and any new fans who have a favorite AU, could you name all of your AUs, and the basic concept of them? Please and thank you!!

I mean.

You asked for it. Here's every au.

Nagas

Sirens

Harpies

Skiders

Moths

Forest Gods

Pride and Prejudice

Coffee shop

Asylum inmates

Prison inmates

Daycare Attendants from FNAF

Portal

Ancient mummies in a crypt

Beasts (beauty & the beast style)

High school students

Ghosts

Ghost HUNTERS (& demons)

Gods in general

Fairy MC

Dragons (including one where they were all different head on one hydra)

Robots

Build-a-wife related AUs

Avatar (the good one not the blue one)

Pirates

Vampires

Wizards (howl's moving castle style)

Knights

Among Us aliens

Wild west cowboys

Steven Universe gems

Mobsters

Cheshire cats

Coraline monsters

DnD party

Farmers

Mamma Mia surprise dads

Demon familiars to a witch

#if i remember any more i will let you know #ask and ye shall receive #many of these aus have other aus within them #like... 'ghost' #that could mean the friendly ghost one... the one where theyre just haunting her... the one where shes their reincarnated love.... #knights could mean travelling knights... or knights to queen mc.... #prison and asylum cover the hundreds of offshoots #and theres abt 100 aus in the gem au category #lmao

[moonlight-stalker]

# 16

Danny is thrown in Arkham Asylum after being accused of muder in court he was considered mental ill because he would talk to the air and would act like he was some kind of animal and was vary childish it did not help that he would randomly start singing nursery rhymes ( he could talk to the ghost that were around that other people could not see and they can not fault him for acting childish and strange he had an audience of child to entertain) they sentences him to Arkham Asylum years later there would be a big break out were many would leave he was told by the ghost to stay hidden so the bat's and birds would not send him back to the cage

#my post #dcxdp prompt #Danny is only a little bit insane #Some of his brain cells were fried in the accident #He would disagree #He things he actually perfectly normal #As turns to empty air and gives a High five #dcxdp #dpxdc #Danny help solve murders #dc x dp #He left what the ghost said what happened #Some were solved #other were not taken seriously #Danny did several cases in Gotham #The mobs did not like that #They framed him for muder #He was not sent to prison #He was sent to #Arkham Asylum #He things it's the worst #When the brake out happen and everyone left he followed #The ghost told him to not get on the bat's radar #he likes being free #he didn't for a little bit #and then he started leaving notes #on the cases the bats and birds had #he would also lead them to deals #and other rogues #he mad show that the bats never catch him they have come close

[just-an-enby-lemon]

I'm a firm defender of Arkham being terrible. The worst place on Earth. This place is clearly making everyone worse.

Give me Jonathan Crane loving how cruel and lax one could get with the "patients" at Arkham as he tested his toxin only for him to realize that the same "treatment" would be gave to him as he is finally caught by Batman. Jonathan who was one of the doctors who signed authorizing eletroshock "therapy" because he didn't care either way only for years later see himself being dragged to the eletroconvoulsive room.

Give me Harvey Dent trying to use his lawyer knowledge to protect himself and his friends by mentioning how solitary confinament against mentally ill people is not allowed on the state of New Jersey only for the guards/doctors to smile cruely and say "oh but this isn't solitary confinament it is *insert buzzword for solitary confinament that makes it legal*"(and yes prisons do that irl).

Harley painfully trying to explain both as doctor and as patient that inhumane treatment of inmates was scietifically proven to only make them more violent only to be ignored because "don't the guards deserve revenge" or some similar bullshit.

Ivvy who just wants her plants. Who gets physically sick when she can't get close to the green. But she can't have even sunshine because they specially discriminate against metahumans. And what if she uses her powers? Same for Music Maister except is worse because it is his voice! They even take Freezes suit away the first times but when they realize he will just die he just gets an special room that is basically temperature zero solitary but don't worry is for his own good.

All while doing human experimentation with Clayface because he is a meta anyway and honestly does he even count as human? And of course let's not forget Killer Croc that gets to be arrested in a cell on the fucking sewers. Yes it does not have basic sanitation whatsoever and yes Waylon deserves better.

Jervis who gets punished for daring saying they have no respect for the human mind. And King Tut who is mocked for his delusions instead of helped in any way.

Joker who spends more time in solitary than with actual people to the point is very likely that he was actually sane before Arkham and just an evil clown.

Riddler who spends most of his stay just drugged out of his mind because he talks to much and both the nurses and the guards find him annoying and isn't the silence best for everyone? And if him (or anyone who is reciving too much medication or the wrong meds) gets an addiction, well is not their problem.

And of course the more important part: Bruce who has no clue what is happening until Joan Leland enters the picture and contacts him for help because it doesn't matter if they are all criminals they are people and she is going to do her job (and Bruce Wayne is the only donor that cares). Cue to an horrifyied Bruce questioning his former stance on crime and getting ready to help make Gotham a place were rehabilitation is truly possible.

#arkham asylum #arkham is bedlam #arkham makes the rogues worse #bruce wayne #batman #scarecrow #poison ivvy #music meister #mr freeze #clayface #killer croc #madhatter #king tut #joker #riddler #joan leland #Two-Face #cw prison abuse #cw dehumanization #cw medical abuse #bruce is not able to single handed change the system #it takes time and a lot of people and to have a rich famous guy does help but like all systemic change is hard #and is only Arkham #yes Bruce won't stop at Arkham on his advocacy for a better prision system but that takes a lot of work

[lonely-dog-draws]

I usually draw my characters from memory, so they get changed a bit over time... but I looked at this character's original 2014 art for the first time in a while, & redrew it according to my 2023 sensibilities. what is the red thing though??

#traditional art #original art #character design #anthro #furry #art improvement #coloured pencils #image id in alt text #lonely dog draws #oc tag #oc (wolfgang) #as u can see he started off as a feral cat but i feel like he fits in an anthro form better. + his pupils were star shapes #he's always kept his purple waistcoat though :•j #why does he have a ball on him. well he is a prisoner of sorts in the b uhhh ableist horror asylum #YEAH.... i could change it bcuz it makes me cringe a bit but i wouldn't know what else to do with him #(& associated characters)

[fallout-lou-begas]

turns out batman: arkham asylum (2009) is the absolute perfect 7/10 metroidvania with a really cool and distinctly exaggerated creepy asylum environment to explore, and a genuinely endearing overload of late-2000s video game design cliches (audio tapes, walk-and-talk cutscenes integrated into the gameplay, characters bark repetitive voice lines if you do things other than the objective, following glowing trails of stuff). it holds up!

and then there's the goons. the endless horde of large and stupid and large meatheaded goons who say shit like "i ain't afraid a da bat..." and "da jokah's gonna rule dis city!". they have yet to be surpassed, they without a doubt remain the high water mark for bad guys to beat up in video games and a landmark achievement for goons in general

#the GOTY edition is also like $5 on steam right now #probably the perfect price for this game tbh #the worst flaws are the boss fights suck and detective vision isn't very fun to have on all the time #and the combat is pretty mindless unless you're playing on Hard in which case it's HARD. #and yeah the whole creepy asylum full of tortured incurable patients and one-dimensional prisoner thugs is obviously not great ideologicall #but like. it's a batman game. you're gonna get loons and goons. #batman #arkham asylum #louposting

[copingchaos]

#marc about to give us all a tour #jokes aside #the asylum really was a kind of mind prison #also me when im alone with my thoughts #mood knight #moon knight #edit #meme #marc spector #steven grant #jake lockley #mcu

[regallibellbright]

#polls #halloween #ghosts #hauntings #JUST missing the cut: Prisons. Isn't any haunting that binds you to one place an imprisonment really? #castles are being lumped in as houses here just because I only had twelve options #and asylums I'd count as either prisons or hospitals #but other than that I THINK I got all the most common real-world Haunted Site Types #(seriously you'd be surprised how many haunted theme parks Wikipedia has.)

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“100 Criminally Insane Are Moved From Guelph,” Kingston Whig-Standard. February 21, 1933. Page 11. ---- GUELPH, Feb. 21— One hundred criminally insane housed for years at the Ontario Reformatory here, were taken today to Penetanguishene, where a new building has been erected for them. 

The transfer was kept secret until after its completion to avoid the gathering of curious crowds. A special special train was used to move the prisoners.

#guelph #guelph reformatory #criminally insane #ontario hospital for the insane #penetanguishene #the prison as asylum #the asylum as prison #prisoner transfer #prisoner transport #great depression in canada #crime and punishment in canada #history of crime and punishment in canada

[kazz-brekker]

there's a lot of vaguely surreal set design in hannibal but i think the fact that will's prison cell was a sad little dark corner with metal bars and hannibal's cell in the exact same asylum looks like a fancy apartment that happens to have a glass wall maybe takes the cake

#it has the same white and gold paneling design as alana's office! and is bigger than my college dorm! and it's a prison cell! #i assume this is some kind of symbolism about hannibal still having the same amount of influence over people #as the literal head of the asylum does so their rooms look the same #also maybe for lighting reasons since i assume there will be a lot of scenes there #but it's still a wild contrast #pie says stuff #pie watches hannibal #hannibal #would love to know the in universe explanation for his cell being Like That #can't possibly be favoritism bc alana and chilton both hate his guts lmao

[kaosanddestruction]

sitting in psychology class, watching my teacher talk about asylums and listening to the doai vol 1 ost while drawing the ost album art. i'm filled with unspeakable autism rn.

#doai #doai vol 1 #psychology class my beloved #he's talking about how asylums would overflow and became basically prisons that treat patients with unspeakable cruelty n shit #like oh my fucking hell #my brain is making too many connections here #kaoticviridium #i'm stupid sorry

[roleplayfinder]

Looking for someone 21+ (as i am 26) to rp a greys anatomy, prison or asylum plot

#submission #twenty-one and over #greys anatomy #greys anatomy roleplay #greys anatomy rp #prison #prison roleplay #prison rp #asylum #asylum roleplay #asylum rp

[cbookn]

Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) Linda Hamilton

#linda hamilton #movie #action #science fiction #horror #female #actress #woman #asylum #fit #knockout #escape #sarah connor #terminator #workout #pull ups #fitness #prison break

[goofalicousgooberface]

my Roman Empire is finding out Barry Keoghan was in The Batman but didn’t have more than 3 mins screentime

#I thought I just didn’t realize he was in it despite rewatching THREE TIMES #Fuck you unnamed Arkham Asylum prisoner Barry Keoghan #barry keoghan #saltburn #oliver quick #goober post