Bridgewater State Hospital

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Bridgewater State Hospital, located in southeastern Massachusetts, is a state facility housing the criminally insane and those whose sanity is being evaluated for the criminal justice system. It was established in 1855 as an almshouse. It was then used as a workhouse for inmates with short sentences who worked the surrounding farmland. It was later rebuilt in the 1880s and again in 1974. As of January 6, 2020 there were 217 inmates in general population beds. The facility was the subject of the 1967 documentary Titicut Follies. Bridgewater State Hospital falls under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Department of Correction but its day-to-day operations are managed by Wellpath, a contracted vendor. Bridgewater State Hospital has recently been embroiled in controversy from human rights advocates and legal experts who argue that while the facility is regarded as a hospital, it denies its "patients" rights accorded to those who are in other psychiatric hospitals, and therefore calling...

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