Patton State Hospital: patients and staff. Drawings by D.R. Wilder, ca. 1954.

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<p>Some of the drawings satirise the staff of the hospital, while others are affectionate portrayals of fellow patients. Staff members are depicted as sadistic, hostile, clueless or themselves crazy. Conditions in the hospital are also depicted: the food is repugnant and the daily tasks are menial. The patients are shown as hapless, unshod, and delusional. There can be no doubt that the figures are based on actual people in the institution, some of whom are named. In one of the drawings, a helicopter chasing a patient who has escaped is marked "Patton", which suggests that the hospital is California Department of State Hospitals-Patton (DSH Patton), a large forensic mental hospital operated by the California Department of State Hospitals. It first opened in San Bernardino, California, in 1893, and in 1927 was renamed Patton State Hospital. It provides psychiatric care and treatment to judicially committed, mentally disordered, adult patients</p>

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Patton State Hospital: patients and staff. Drawings by D.R. Wilder, ca. 1954.

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