Mental Asylum In Dubai

[Ailene Goldhirsh]

Georgia's state mental asylum located in Milledgeville, Georgia, now known as the Central State Hospital (CSH), has been the state's largest facility for treatment of mental illness and developmental disabilities. In continuous operation since accepting its first patient in December 1842, the hospital was founded as the Georgia State Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum, and was also known as the Georgia State Sanitarium and Milledgeville State Hospital during its long history.

"By the 1960s the facility had grown into the largest mental hospital in the world (contending with Pilgrim Psychiatric Center in New York). Its landmark Powell Building and the vast, abandoned 1929 Jones Building stand among some 200 buildings on two thousand acres that once housed nearly 12,000 patients.

"The CSH complex currently encompasses about 1,750 acres (710 ha), a pecan grove and historic cemeteries, and serves about 200 mental health patients. As of 2016 the facility offers short-stay acute treatment for people with mental illness, residential units and habilitation programs for people with developmental disabilities, recovery programs that require a longer stay, and specialized skilled and ICF nursing centers. Some programs serve primarily the central-Georgia region while other programs serve counties throughout the state." (Wikipedia)

"The abandoned buildings of Central State Hospital, now in a state of neglect and decay, once comprised the largest mental health facility the world had ever seen, with more than 200 buildings on 2,000 acres," the Atlas Obscura says.

"Today, a visit to the former Central State Hospital is an eerie experience. The property includes buildings given to a prison, the houses of former doctors, and a pecan grove, the hospital buildings themselves, as well as a cemetery of roughly 25,000 unmarked graves. Around 2,000 somber markers in the nearby Cedar Lane Cemetery memorialize these unknown dead.

"Once a month, Milledgeville GA offers a tour of the Georgia State Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum. Tillman Barnett is the name of the first patient admitted here in 1842. He was from Macon, but did not enjoy a 30 min drive from his hometown; he arrived via horse and buggy. However, because of his feared mental illness, he was not allowed to ride in the buggy. He was chained to it, and forced to walk the entire distance. Before a year was up, he died at Central State from the exhaustion of the trip," the 365 Atlanta Traveler says.

"It is currently a maximum secure forensics facility providing psychiatric evaluation, treatment and recovery services to 384 people referred from Georgia State Corrections who do not require a hospital-level of care but are unable to reintegrate directly into the community. The current name of the maximum secure forensics facility is the Payton B. Cook Building."

"Nearly 12,000 patients from all over the state once lived here, and it was the largest mental hospital in the world at one time. Today, the facility treats around 200 patients," the Only In Your State says.

"The hospital once spanned over 2,000 acres, with 200 buildings. As standards for the care of mentally ill people have improved and the focus has moved away from institutionalization, the hospital has greatly downsized."

"A far cry from private facilities that resembled resorts more than hospitals, Central State developed a notorious reputation, performing lobotomies and shock therapy. Patients were segregated into dorms based on their gender, race, and area of origin, not their respective conditions," the Road Trippers says.

"In the 1950s, following the trauma of World War II, there was reportedly one medical professional for every 100 patients at Central State, with a total population of 13,000 patients. In 1959, Atlanta Constitution reporter Jack Nelson wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning expos about how the inmates were truly running the asylum, leading to much-needed reforms.

"Parts of Central State are still in use, including the industrial kitchen that was at one time the largest in the world. The former auditorium is used by Georgia Military College and the Payton Cook Building is now a forensic inpatient facility."

"The hospital became increasingly custodial as the population evolved from the acutely disturbed to the chronically ill and organically disabled, many of whom were veterans of the Civil War (1861-65) with little chance of successfully returning to their families. Freed African Americans also entered the institution for the first time in 1866, which previously had serviced white patients only."

"Locatated about 100 miles south-west of Atlanta, the small enclave of Milledgeville, Georgia is one of the state's oldest cities. But beyond its family-friend Main Street, old-timey trolley tours and antebellum-era mansion from the days when Milledgeville served as the state capital, this seemingly quaint city holds a dark secret," the BBC reports.

"Just a few miles from Milledgeville's historical downtown, the hulking, half-abandoned remains of the Central State Hospital serve as a grim reminder that this out-of-the-way outpost once housed one of the world's largest psychiatric hospitals.

"Now, a new tour is hoping to show just how far we've come in treating mental illness, and offer a sense of closure for the many local residents whose family members either worked at or were residents of the institution."

Guests can stay overnight in former patients' rooms at this late 19th-century building constructed as a mental hospital, which New York studio Deborah Berke Partners has partially restored and redesigned as a hotel.

Hotel Henry occupies a brick building completed by American architect Henry Hobson Richardson in 1880, which operated as an insane asylum until the mid-1970s. Many similar buildings were also decommissioned and abandoned during the later half of the 20th century when different methods of mental health care were introduced.

Located in Buffalo, New York, the national historic landmark was renovated by Deborah Berke Partners in collaboration with Goody Clancy, a historic preservation agency in Boston. "The project brings new life to a long-abandoned architectural masterpiece," said a statement from the studio.

At 191,000 square feet (17,744 square metres), the project has 88 hotel rooms. The main entrance and neighbouring wings were preserved, with patient rooms transformed into hotel accommodation, and cabinet-like bump outs added in the hallways for en-suite bathrooms.

A few elements were restored to original condition, particularly a winged staircase, wide light-filled hallways, and more decorative features as such as mantle pieces and cornice moulding. A contemporary entryway made of glass and steel was added, in juxtaposition with the structure's original masonry.

The hotel's amenity spaces occupy five storeys at the heart of the complex, and include an architecture gallery, a gym, office spaces, lounge areas, and larger rooms for meetings and events. For decor, shades of blue and yellow were used as pops against interior white walls.

The grounds of the estate were designed by landscape architect Frederick Olmsted, best known for his work on New York's Central Park. A farm-to-table restaurant is on the second floor is intended as a "proud nod to the agricultural tenants Olmsted's vision for the property".

"Kirkbride's plan was used for asylums across the country, many of which are threatened," said Deborah Berke Partners. "The Hotel Henry offers a compelling example of how these vast structures can be successful repurposed for contemporary uses and contribute to their communities."

Deborah Berke, who serves as dean of architecture at Yale University, set up her eponymous firm in 1982. The company's work on renovating historic structures currently includes the transformation of a correctional facility in New York City into a permanent home for the girls' and women's rights movement.

Lead architects: Deborah Berke, Maitland Jones, Marc Leff, Stephen Brockman and Caroline Wharton Ewing - Deborah Berke Partners

Executive architect: Flynn Battaglia

Landscape architect: Andropogon Associates

Historic preservation consultant: Goody Clancy

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Second-highest migrant destination country in the Middle East and the Gulf, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven Emirates and is one of the most globally integrated countries in the Arab Peninsula. Pope Francis visited the country in 2019, celebrated a public Mass there and signed the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, along with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tayyeb. It was the first visit of a Pope to the Arabian Peninsula.

Since the start of the pandemic, there has been a systemic failure of the UAE to protect the rights of migrant workers and hold employers accountable for ensuring accommodation and food are supplied until employees can be repatriated. Hundreds of migrant workers became homeless; many now live in highly vulnerable situations, struggling to find enough to eat and pay their rent. Many are no longer able to send remittances back home to families who depend on them.

The UAE does not have an asylum system but generally respects the principle of non-refoulement. The country endorsed the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration as well as the Global Compact on Refugees in December 2018.

From the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to 1 April 2021, the UAE had 462,000 Covid-19 cases and 1,500 deaths. It imposed a very strict lockdown in March and April 2020. It gradually re-opened its economy, including to foreign tourists, and quickly became an attractive destination with few movement restrictions compared to other countries. This caused a surge in the number of cases between the end of December 2020 and January 2021. The UAE started a vast vaccination campaign in January 2021.

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