Abandonment Issues: Rockwood Insane Asylum

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. Every few weeks as we walked the circumference of the insane asylum looking desperately for an entry point, to no avail, the irony was never lost on us.

During the 1850s, Kingston Penitentiary was deemed to be overrun with mentally ill and criminally insane prisoners. To remedy this, Rockwood Criminal Lunatic Asylum was to be built on the shores of Lake Ontario, just west of the penitentiary. To save tax-payer dollars, it would be built by the prisoners themselves. Construction began in 1859 and although it was not completed until 1870, men began to occupy portions of the building as early as 1862. Female prisoners were admitted during this time period and lived in the old horse stables that remained from when the property was a private villa. In 1868, the female inmates were also moved inside. Once completed, the asylum housed 300 patients.

This was the criteria an inmate had to meet to be transferred to Rockwood Criminal Lunatic Asylum:

1. Convicts in the penitentiary becoming insane while under sentence there.
2. Certain classes of lunatics committed to jail as lunatics dangerous to be at large.
3. Persons charged with some offence of which they had been acquitted on the ground that they were insane at the time such offence was committed.
4. Persons indicted for any offence, and upon arraignment thereof found, by a jury especially impanelled for the purpose, to be insane.

Patients wore distinctive canvas uniforms bearing the word LUNATIC. The medical goal in the mid 1800s was not to cure criminal lunatics, but rather to calm them. Chloral hydrate and alcohol were used to pacify patients, and they were also often bled. Dr. Litchfield, the only physician at Rockwood at the time, had a simple treatment plan that relied heavily upon "a pretty free use of alcohol by day and sedative by night." Treatment also involved restraints, blistering, leeching, enemas, and blood-letting.

It has been reported that during this period, physicians may have performed some of the first neuro-surgical procedures (lobotomies) on patients at Rockwood, using trephines to drill into patients skulls.

Criminal lunatics were not the sole inhabitants of the asylum, the staff lived on-site and unsound Kingston residents were also admitted. This population included patients up and down the spectrum of mental health disorders as we know them today, as well as lepers and promiscuous women.

Rockwood Insane Asylum patient ward circa 1880s

In the late 1800s, the psychiatric focus shifted from strictly therapeutic interventions to classification and treatment based on scientific evidence. By this time, many other changes had also taken place. The canvas LUNATIC uniforms were eliminated and the old tin cups and spoons were replaced with ceramic dishes and cutlery. The adjacent farm was purchased and the asylum began to grow it's own food, providing broader menu choices for patients and staff. The asylum's interior was painted with bright cheery colours, bedding was upgraded from straw sack mattresses and pillows, and sitting rooms were outfitted with beautiful furniture and decorations. Patients were treated to outings into town, chartered yacht rides and an on-site 14-piece orchestra that was widely considered the best in town. Rockwood was also one of the first buildings in Canada to be outfitted with central heating. Most notably though, a full-service medical infirmary was built on site and a school was created to teach English to the female patients, many of whom were illiterate. The separation of classified patients was also a monumental shift, criminal lunatics were never again able to socialize with the growing population of patients being admitted from Kingston and surrounding communities.

In 1959, one hundred years after ground was broken, Rockwood patients were transferred to the new buildings constructed on the same property, and the former asylum eventually became known as 'The Penrose Building', which was a residence for people with disabilities. Penrose closed in 2000 and the historic building has sat empty ever since, surrounded by the splashing waves of Lake Ontario and the newer buildings that make up the mental health facility complex that is currently known as Providence Care. 

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. After a half a dozen extensive circumference scopes of the abandoned asylum over several months all resulted in the same failure, this time would be different, we thought. And it was.

From a personal point of view, this was a remarkable experience. Speaking as someone with a history of mental health issues in my immediate family, and also as someone that has spent years working with people with autism and other developmental disorders, this was another unique and special exploration for me. I couldn't help but think about a young female client that I had out west, who spent most of her teenage years in a helmet in a white room. She was on her last shot at societal integration during our time together, sadly, she failed to meet the standards set for her, and she was re-institutionalized. I wondered what had become of her for what seemed like days, but was a mere matter of seconds, before my focus shifted to my brother. I get a sinking lost feeling like there is nothing that I can do when I think about my older brother. Like if I just had one more piece of the puzzle I could help him put himself back together. His experiences locked in psych wards and modern day institutions such as this have impacted him greatly, to the point that he insisted that he accompany me on the Mental Health Services Facility explore. And he did. And when we found the psych ward he had visited by force in the past, a strange excitement came over him, followed by a sense of calm that I've never seen in him. He was very much in my mind in the asylum on this day. Not to say that the treatment he receives today is working overly well, but I'm grateful that we live in a day and age where he isn't restrained all day and lobotomised, or preyed on by criminal lunatics.

In July of 2011 when our insanity paid off, the lights were still on, a few of them anyway, buzzing overhead, full of thousands of fly carcasses. The plastic was peeling on many of the windows at this point, but the efforts made to protect the building from moisture have been remarkably effective. Hallway doors were already propped open with miscellaneous objects, preventing an explorer from getting ironically locked in the insane asylum. The screeching noise of metal on metal must have been caused by the wind, I thought, but there wasn't so much as a soft gentle breeze on that humid summer day. The echoing click-clack-thud sound was surely just a door closing slowly down the long corridor behind us, but I don't think it was. It sounded like someone tripping over something. I don't believe in God, or any of that paranormal ghost nonsense. But, if I did, I would have sworn that we were not alone in that asylum. It could have been other explorers, or a security guard, or a squatter, or a routine fire inspection, or maybe somehow a raccoon found a little P.O.E. of its own? Or who knows, maybe it is fucking haunted? We were in there for hours, and someone or something was in there with us, no question about it.

In the following three years, we have continued to indulge our insanity and return to attempt entry on a fairly regular basis, finding success a half a dozen times. With each visit we discovered new areas and watched the building begin a transformation from a neglected abandonment to a preserved historical structure, as workers began to clean the building's interior, even sweeping the peeled paint chips from the floors, and setting up massive scaffolding to restore the exterior limestone. The building is now owned by Infrastructure Ontario (formerly the Ontario Realty Corp.) and they appear to be investing millions of dollars to restore and preserve this historic limestone monolith, which is protected by it's heritage status and has an unknown future.

Our most recent visit was yesterday, and this time, we were most definitely not alone, as we managed to successfully gain entry and explore every inch of the building whilst evading a large construction crew working inside and the new 24/7 security guard on site. It was a magical afternoon.

These images were captured on six separate visits between July of 2011 and March of 2014. Shouts out to all of the friends that have accompanied me on these various adventures into Rockwood, including Ninja IX, Mr. Nutz., Andrea, Lindsay and LJJ.

Up in the different attics and peaks of the towers, we always take the time to chill and enjoy the view of the Kingston Penitentiary and Prison for Women out the attic windows.















And then we descend from the attic into the basement.







Rumours abound regarding the torture inflicted upon patients in some of the rooms found meandering through the fascinating labyrinth of underground tunnels.



















Back outside, time after time, we embrace our freedom.







And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the Rockwood Insane Asylum as I've seen it over the past three years. Thanks for taking the time to check it out.

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