Accounts of Abuse of Patients at the Toronto Hospital for the Insane 1883-1937

In an effort to uncover the experiences and perspectives of patients about abuse in institutions, this article will present the writings of asylum inmates and third-party observers, including relatives and staff, on this topic. These documents consist almost entirely of material from the Toronto Hospital for the Insane, from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. References include physical, verbal, and sexual abuse. Methodological challenges when coming across this evidence will be addressed, most notably the problem of verification when charges of abuse are denied or are met with silence by hospital officials. Furthermore, this topic will include a discussion of inmates abusing other patients in an effort to compare how these episodes were reported in contrast to incidents that involved staff.