Episode 1- Willowbrook State School & The Urban Legend of Cropsey

Episode Description- Willowbrook State School... a now abandoned institution in Staten Island, New York for persons with mental and physical disabilities that NYS opened in 1942. We'll talk about the tragic circumstances that residents at Willowbrook lived in- including some being subjected to confirmed human experimentation. Dr. Saul Krugman, a pediatrician and professor at New York University and Dr. Robert W. McCollum a virologist and epidemiologist at Yale School of Medicine performed studies at Willowbrook on the residents from 1956-1971, intentionally giving children hepatitis to try to work on a vaccination. This case help lead to the regulations around human experimentation that we have today. Dr. Michael Wilkins, a physician who worked at Willowbrook had been advocating to parents of residents within his wards to demand better care and conditions for the residents within. He was let go from his position and reached out to news journalist Geraldo Rivera and a print journalist Jane Kurtin. In February of 1972, Geraldo Rivera with help from Jane Kurtin, would release an expose on Willowbrook, titled Willowbrook: The Last Great Disgrace. We'll tie in the urban legend of Cropsey, an urban legend in the Staten Island area that was turned into a documentary film released by Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio, two Staten Island filmmakers. This will segue into the topic of the second episode, where we'll be discussing the connection to Andre Rand, a convicted sex offender and suspected serial killers, also known as the 'Pied Piper of Staten Island'. Andre Rand worked for a time at Willowbrook and lived on the grounds after the school closed. 

Original Episode Publication Date- March 17, 2023

Page Last Updated- June 11, 2024

On March 17, 1972, an important day in New York State History, a physician and a group of parents would file a class action lawsuit against the Willowbrook State School, a residence for children and adults with mental and physical disabilities. The details of what led to the lawsuit are laid out in the episode. 

This episode takes us down to Staten Island, one of the five borough's of New York City. Staten Island has a reputation for being a 'dumping ground' due to it's history of having been the site for NYC to dump it's garbage at Freshkills Landfill, as well as having places such as Willowbrook- a facility for mentally and physically disabled adults and children; Farm Colony- a poor house; and Seaview Hospital- the largest tuberculosis hospital in the nation; as well as a place where the mob dumps their kills.

Links used for Staten Island History

https://www.statenislandhistorian.com/history.html

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/fresh-kills-landfill

In 1938, New York State authorized the building of a school for "mental defectives." A 375-acre site in the Willowbrook district of Staten Island, NY was selected, and the school was built. Before the school opened, the U.S. entered World War II in the 1940s and New York State turned over the site to the U.S. Army for use as a hospital and prisoner of war camp after construction was completed in 1942. Halloran General Hospital soon became the largest Army hospital in the U.S. It was known for orthopedic and reconstructive surgery and a humanistic standard of care. They were doing the damn thing, Halloran had a great reputation and provided quality care. At its peak, it treated over 2,500 soldiers daily. At the war's end, Halloran became a veterans' hospital. In 1951, Halloran closed, and the Army returned the property to NY State for its intended purpose as the Willowbrook State School though there was a brief period where the purpose of the property was up in the air.

Link used for Halloran General Hospital:

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=207467

The truth of Willowbrook would come to light that the residents were often left in a constant state of neglect, completely tragic for those who could be considered among those the most vulnerable. This was largely due to lack of funding from the state, which left the buildings and wards understaffed with high ratios of residents per caretaker. This meant that many residents were left with little to no supervision, care, or resources. Many were naked due to the lack of clothing or lack of staff available to re-dress patients if they stripped themselves. Residents could often be found soiled in their own urine and/or feces, which would also be left smeared on walls, and clothing. It was also not uncommon for residents to be physically or sexually assaulted by other residents or even employees of the facility. This would go on for far, far longer than it should before the public became aware of what was going on behind the walls of Willowbrook. 

But abuse and neglect were not the only concerns for residents of Willowbrook. There were also questionable medical practices due to confirmed human experimentation. 

Dr. Michael Wilkins, a physician who worked at Willowbrook had been advocating to parents of residents within his wards to demand better care and conditions for the residents within. He was let go from his position and reached out to Geraldo Rivera and a print journalist Jane Kurtin. In February of 1972, Rivera with help from Kurtin, would release an expose on Willowbrook, titled “Willowbrook: The Last Great Disgrace”. 

References for Willowbrook State School:

https://timeline.com/willowbrook-the-institution-that-shocked-a-nation-into-changing-its-laws-c847acb44e0d

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willowbrook_State_School

https://www.nyc.gov/site/mopd/events/our-history.page?slide=10

https://www.forbes.com/sites/leahrosenbaum/2020/06/12/willowbrook-scandal-hepatitis-experiments-hideous-truths-of-testing-vaccines-on-humans/?sh=2ed30907279c

https://www.aclu.org/issues/disability-rights/cleaning-snake-pit

https://www.npr.org/2008/03/07/87975196/remembering-an-infamous-new-york-institution

On March 17, 1972, 51 years before the day this episode released in 2023, Dr. William Bronston and a group of parents filed a class action lawsuit against Willowbrook. The lawsuit alleged that the constitutional rights of the residents were violated due to confinement of residents sometimes to beds or chairs, or in solitude; overcrowding; failure to provide education, habilitation, and evaluations of residents; not providing adequate services for speech, occupational, or physical therapy; not providing adequate clothing, meals, and facilities, including toilet facilities; failure to provide protection from theft, assault, or injury; lack of compensation for work performed; inadequate medical facilities; understaffing and lack of competent professional staff; lack of privacy; and failure to release residents eligible for release. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit alleged that the conditions violated the constitutional right to treatment under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and that their denial of a public education violated the Equal Protection Cause of the Fourteenth Amendment. 

The case was settled on April 30, 1975, when Judge Judd signed the Willowbrook Consent Judgment. The Consent Judgment outlined specific procedures and instructions for treatment of residents, covering issues such as resident living, the environment, programming and evaluation, hiring of personnel, education, recreation, food and nutrition, dental and medical care, therapy services, use of restraints, conditions for residents to provide labor to the facility, and conditions for research and experimental treatment. Significantly, the Consent Judgment also declared as the primary goal of the institution and the New York Department of Mental Hygiene to “ready each resident…for life in the community at large” and called for the placement of Willowbrook residents in less restrictive settings. The Consent Judgment set a goal of reducing the number of residents living at Willowbrook to no more than 250 by 1981, which didn’t really happen. 

So while this is a very tragic story for the residents of Willowbrook and other state institutions that lived, and unfortunately for some died, in the horrible conditions behind the walls, I do also want to cover some good things that came from all of this.  The political reaction to this case led to the enactment of legislation such as:

• The Protection and Advocacy (P&A) System in the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act (1975);

• The Education For All Handicapped Children Act, P.L. 94-142 (1975); This act required all public schools accepting federal funds to provide equal access to education for children with physical and mental disabilities. Public schools were required to evaluate children with disabilities and create an educational plan with parent input that would emulate as closely as possible the educational experience of non-disabled students.

• The Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA)(1980).  intended to protect the rights of people in state or local correctional facilities, nursing homes, mental health facilities, group homes and institutions for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act and CRIPA were the first federal civil rights laws protecting people with disabilities, leading to the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Additional Resources:

https://www.drny.org/page/our-history-8.html

https://sites.ed.gov/idea/IDEA-History