Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York

This is the first contemporary investigative account of Blackwell’s, an infamous 19th century insane asylum/prison on the banks of New York’s East River, today called Roosevelt Island. The book follows Reverend William Glenney French, who ministered to Blackwell residents, and through his detailed diaries explores the madness, depravity, and inhumanity that went on here.