These ideals were, however, abandoned almost immediately as the commissioners sought to save as much money as possible and refused to listen to the individuals who actually worked in or were in charge of the institutions. Occupying a two-mile strip in the East River, Blackwell’s Island was envisioned as a retreat for the “sick, mad, and punishable” who would be classified by affliction or crime, housed in progressive institutions, controlled, and reformed. Stacy Horn presents an account of New York’s most vulnerable populations from the early 1800s to 1895 in Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad & Criminal in 19 th– Century New York. Publisher: Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2018. Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad & Criminal In 19th-Century New York
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