The Virginia State Colony for the Epileptics and Feeble Minded was a state run institution for those considered to be “
Feeble minded” or those with severe mental impairment. The colony opened in 1910 near
Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch (1740–1820), John Lynch, the city's populati ...
in
Madison Heights with the goal of isolating those with mental disabilities and other qualities deemed unfit for reproduction away from society.
The colony was the home of
Carrie Buck
Carrie Elizabeth Buck (July 3, 1906 – January 28, 1983) was the plaintiff in the United States Supreme Court case ''Buck v. Bell'', after having been ordered to undergo compulsory sterilization for purportedly being "feeble-minded" by her fost ...
, the subject of the landmark Supreme Court case ''
Buck v. Bell
''Buck v. Bell'', 274 U.S. 200 (1927), is a decision of the United States Supreme Court, written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., in which the Court ruled that a state statute permitting compulsory sterilization of the unfit, including th ...
''.
[Noll, Steven. "The Public Face of Southern Institutions for the 'Feeble-Minded.'" ''The Public Historian'', vol. 27, no. 2, 2005, pp. 25–41. ''JSTOR'', www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/tph.2005.27.2.25]
History of the Colony
The colony was authorized by a 1906 bill written by
eugenicist
Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...
and social welfare advocate
Aubrey Strode, in collaboration with eugenicists
Albert Priddy
Albert Sidney Priddy (December 7, 1865 – January 13, 1925) was an American physician and politician. He served two non-consecutive terms as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Charlotte County. A proponent of eugenics and compulso ...
and
Joseph DeJarnette
Joseph Spencer DeJarnette (September 29, 1866 – September 3, 1957) was the director of Western State Hospital (located in Staunton, Virginia) from 1905 to November 15, 1943. He was a vocal proponent of racial segregation and eugenics, spec ...
.
[Lombardo, Paul A.. ''Three Generations, No Imbeciles : Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/vand/detail.action?docID=4398321 ] The colony received its first patients in 1911 and by the end of the calendar year had more than 150 men who suffered from epilepsy, a condition of social abhorrence.
Colonies like the Virginia State Colony had been established in order to separate the disabled from criminal populations, for example, many of the first inhabitants of the Virginia State Colony had previously been housed in prisons and state hospitals.
Originally, only men could be patients of the colony, but after roughly one year of operation, superintendent Priddy allowed women into the colony who were diagnosed as feeble-minded.
In accordance with the change in potential patients, the colony changed from its original name, the Virginia Colony for Epileptics to the Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded in 1914.
Dr. Albert Priddy and Carrie Buck
Priddy, a central figure in the legalization of the sterilization of the mentally feeble was the first superintendent of the colony.
Priddy had long been a proponent of sterilization as a potential method for controlling the harm the feeble minded could have on a society.
[Lombardo, Paul A.. ''Three Generations, No Imbeciles : Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/vand/detail.action?docID=4398321 ] Priddy in fact performed roughly 80 sterilizations between 1916 and 1917 and thought that these procedures yielded favorable results.
Carrie Buck
Carrie Elizabeth Buck (July 3, 1906 – January 28, 1983) was the plaintiff in the United States Supreme Court case ''Buck v. Bell'', after having been ordered to undergo compulsory sterilization for purportedly being "feeble-minded" by her fost ...
, a poor, pregnant teenager from a broken home arrived at the Colony on June 4, 1924.
Her mother, Emma Buck was already a patient of the colony, thus joining both mother and daughter in the camp.
Priddy sought Carrie to be a patient of the camp as a way to showcase eugenic ideas of heredity to support Virginia's sterilization law and eventually move the law all the way up to the supreme court.
The three generations of the Buck family and Carrie's impending sterilization became the focus of the landmark supreme court case ''Buck v. Bell''. Priddy died before the case reached the Supreme Court, but nonetheless on May 2, 1927 the Supreme Court decided that Virginia's sterilization law was constitutional.
[Popenoe, Paul, "The Progress of Eugenic Sterilization" (2009). ''Buck v Bell Documents.'' p.22 Paper 41. http://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/buckvbell/41]
Post ''Buck v. Bell''
Following the decision upholding the constitutionality of Virginia's sterilization law in 1927, sterilizations began to take place at the Virginia Colony itself.
Carrie Buck was sterilized on October 19, 1927 and this began a long run of sterilizations at the colony.
[Lombardo, Paul A.. ''Three Generations, No Imbeciles : Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/vand/detail.action?docID=4398321 ] In the six years following the decision in ''Buck v. Bell'', the state of Virginia performed 1,333 sterilizations.
[Popenoe, Paul, "The Progress of Eugenic Sterilization" (2009). ''Buck v Bell Documents.'' p.22 Paper 41. http://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/buckvbell/41] The last reported sterilization at the colony occurred in 1956.
Shortly after the death of Priddy in 1926, Dr. John Bell took over as superintendent of the Virginia Colony.
[Rowe, Frederick B, Crews, W David, and Finger, Frank W. “John N. Buck (1906–1983): Did He Practically Establish Clinical Psychology in Virginia?” ''Journal of clinical psychology.'' 49.3 (1993): 428–434. Web.] Under his leadership, the colony not only doubled in size, but increased its educational efforts to aid the feeble-minded population of Virginia.
The name was changed to ''Lynchburg State Colony'' in 1940, ''Lynchburg Training School and Hospital'' in 1954, and since 1983, has been known as the ''Central Virginia Training Center''. The records of Central Virginia Training Center can be found at the
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, is the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It serves as the archival agency and the reference library for Virginia's seat of government. The Library moved into a new building in 1997 and i ...
.
Segregation
The Virginia State colony was a center for feeble minded whites only. Blacks were not admitted to the colony throughout its early years. However, the state of Virginia in 1939 created the Petersburg Colony for the care of blacks who were deemed either “insane” or “feebleminded.” The poorly-funded colony was a work camp for its 182 patients who were deemed as having “borderline intelligence.”
Contemporary usage
The institution remained integral in the treatment of those with mental disabilities in the State of Virginia. In 1983, the facility was renamed to the Central Virginia Training Center. The institution's mission statement emphasized, "The Central Virginia Training Center is committed to providing effective, compassionate and individually responsive services to persons with intellectual disabilities...empowering safe, healthy and enriched lives for the individuals in our care." Additionally, the facility functioned as an assisted living center and held classes for some of its patients with the hope of eventual community placement.
Investigation into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act
Starting in 2008, the
United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is the institution within the federal government responsible for enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion
Religion is usually d ...
launched an investigation into the quality of CVTC and three other state-run care facilities throughout Virginia. The investigation lasted three years, and found multiple inadequacies in the care of disabled persons within CVTC, including the failure to develop a sufficient quantity of community-based alternatives for individuals with complex needs, improper allocation of funds for community-based programs, and a flawed discharge program which did not sufficiently prepare patients for discharge from the facility and integration into the community. Specific violations of the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 19 ...
include unnecessary institutionalization of patients into segregated settings, exposed to repeated accidents and injuries, inadequate dietary and physical support, and the undue use of restraint mechanisms found during the 2008-2009 visits to the facility. The investigation found many patients at the CVTC could be better served by integrating them into the community with proper services and more freedom; however it was found that multiple patients which were evaluated as discharge-ready were not placed on the discharge list, often for multiple years past evaluation.
Closure
As part of a settlement reached from the investigation into the quality of care and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, in 2012 then-governor
Bob McDonnell
Robert Francis McDonnell (born June 15, 1954) is an American attorney, businessman, politician, and former military officer who served as the 71st governor of Virginia from 2010 to 2014. His career ended after his corruption scandal and convic ...
announced the facility would close by 2020 and the former residents resettled. During the following years, operations were reduced, and by December 2018, The Central Virginia Training Center had just 65 patients. In 2020, the last residents were relocated and the facility was closed permanently on April 2nd. As of 2022, the buildings stand abandoned, and the land is in the planning stages of redevelopment into a medium-density urban hub for the neighboring town of Madison Heights.
See also
* ''
Poe v. Lynchburg Training School & Hospital''
References
Further reading
*
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Hospital buildings completed in 1910
Eugenics in the United States
Buildings and structures in Amherst County, Virginia
Psychiatric hospitals in Virginia
1910 establishments in Virginia