• HOME
• THE LANGUAGE OF MADNESS
• THE ASYLUM
• • Asylum Design
  • Patient Buildings
• SOCIETY
• • Urban & Rural Life
  • Class & Gender
  • The Hysterical Female
  • The Evils of "Self-Abuse"
  • Family
  • Visitors
• LEGISLATION
• • Legislative Influence
  • Origins of Legislation and the Criminality of Insanity
  • Teenaged Years: Marked Custody Transition
  • Turn of the Century: Voluntary Admissions
  • Updated Act: The Mental Hospital Act
• SUPERINTENDANTS
• STAFF
• • Working at the LAI
  • Hiring Practices
  • Rules for Employees
  • Employee Roles in Moral Therapy
  • Doctors at LAI
  • Doctor Connections to UWO
  • Training School for Nurses
  • Attendants
  • General Staff
• PATIENT PERSPECTIVES
• • Introduction
  • Patient Art
  • Patient Letters
  • Their Voice
• MEDICAL TREATMENTS
• • Medical Treatment Introduction
  • Use of Restraints
  • Drug and Alcohol
  • Hydrotherapy
  • Female Surgeries
  • Neurosyphilis
  • Shock Therapy
  • Lobotomies
• MORAL THERAPY
• • Moral Therapy Introduction
  • Labour
  • Amusements
  • Diet
  • Religion
• THE WORLD WARS
• • Before the First World War
  • During the First World War
  • After the First World War
  • The First World War and the LAI
  • First World War Veterans at the LAI
  • The Second World War
• MEMORIES OF RMHCL
• • Introduction
  • Their Memories

The Teenaged Years: Marked Custody Transition

By the late 1870s there were four public asylums in Ontario: Toronto, London, Kingston, and Hamilton. Many of these institutions had experienced the practical effects of legislative developments throughout the 1860s and 1870s with regards to inspection procedures, jurisdiction, and particularly admission requirements. Revisions continued throughout the 1880s, particularly to the act regarding Asylums and the custody of Insane Persons (PDF file, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view), which significantly altered the placement of patients within the asylum system.

Prior to regulations established in the early 1870s, only one doctor was required for certification of insanity. This was a system which was rife with holes and misdiagnosis independent of professional scrutiny. In 1873, due in part to the influx of patients who were victims of this misdiagnosis, legislation was passed to ensure collective medical agreement. Initially this legislation required three medical practitioners to certify mental illness with two witnesses each. By 1887 this was changed yet again to only two. A balance was eventually found between carelessness over diagnosis, and medical red-tape.

The ability to transfer prisoners from local jails to the asylum continued and resulted in close cooperation between local police and asylum superintendents and staff. Beyond transfer, the jail also acted as an intermediary between the committal process and the asylum for those in situations of destitution. This was where medical evaluations could be secured, a trend which would continue into modern times.