Damnation Island: Stacy Horn with Ginia Bellafante

An author evokes the forgotten ghosts of Roosevelt Island, a place where prisoners were enlisted to care for the insane.

The narrow island in the East River once contained a lunatic asylum, two prisons, an almshouse, and a number of hospitals. Designed to be state-of-the-art, both humane and efficient, Blackwell’s Island quickly became, in the words of Charles Dickens, “a lounging, listless madhouse.” Using city records, newspaper articles, and archival reports Stacy Horn brings the stories of the inhabitants back to life, and highlights the work of the period’s officials, reformers, and journalists. 

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