Broadmoor Hospital is a high-security
psychiatric hospitalPsychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorder. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their goals and methods. Some hospitals may specialize only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
at
CrowthorneCrowthorne is a town and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest district of south-eastern Berkshire. It is best known for Broadmoor Hospital, one of three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, which lies in the village....
in the
Borough of Bracknell ForestBracknell Forest is a unitary authority and borough in Berkshire in southern England. It covers the towns of Bracknell, North Ascot, Sandhurst, Crowthorne and surrounding villages and hamlets.-History:...
in
BerkshireBerkshire is a ceremonial county in the South East of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1958,...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is the best known of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the other two being
AshworthAshworth Hospital is a high security psychiatric hospital at Maghull in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England.Ashworth is one of the three "special" hospitals in England and Wales, along with Rampton and Broadmoor, that exist to work with people who require treatment in...
and
RamptonRampton Secure Hospital is a high security psychiatric hospital near the village of Woodbeck between Retford and Rampton in the Bassetlaw District of Nottinghamshire, England...
.
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
has a similar institution, located at
CarstairsThe name Carstairs refers to a pair of villages located some 4–5 miles east of the town of Lanark in the administrative region of South Lanarkshire in southern Scotland....
, officially known as
The State HospitalThe State Hospital for Scotland and Northern Ireland is a psychiatric hospital providing care and treatment in conditions of high security for around 240 patients from Scotland and Northern Ireland who need to be detained in hospital under conditions of special security that can only be provided...
; also called Carstairs Hospital which serves Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Broadmoor complex houses about 260 patients all of whom are men since the female service closed in September 2007, with most of the women moving to a new service in Southall, a few moving to the national high secure service for women at Rampton and a small number transferring elsewhere. At any one time there are also approximately 36 patients on trial leave at other units. Most of the patients there suffer from severe mental illness. Many of the patients also have
personality disorderPersonality disorders, formerly referred to as character disorders, are a class of personality types and behaviors that the American Psychiatric Association defines as "an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the culture of the...
s. Most have either been convicted of serious crimes, or been found unfit to plead in a trial for such crimes. Although average stay for the total population is about six years, the fact that some patients have stayed for over thirty years skews this figure. Most patients stay for considerably less than six years.
The catchment area for the hospital has recently undergone some rationalisation of the London area and now serves all of the
NHSThe National Health Service is the name commonly used to refer to the four single-payer publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom, collectively or individually, although only the health service in England uses the name 'National Health Service' without further qualification...
Regions: London, Eastern, South East, South West.
One of the therapies available is the arts, and patients are encouraged to participate in the
KoestlerThe Koestler Trust is a charity which helps prison inmates and detained psychiatric patients in the UK to express themselves creatively. The trust promotes the arts in special institutions, encouraging creativity and the acquisition of new skills as a means to rehabilitation...
Awards Scheme.
History
Previously known as the
Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, the change of name reflects a change in attitude to mental illness and criminals, and usage of the word "asylum".
The hospital was built in 1863 to a design by Sir
Joshua JebbSir Joshua Jebb was a military engineer and the British Surveyor-General of convict prisons.He participated in the Battle of Plattsburgh on Lake Champlain during the War of 1812, and surveyed a route between Ottawa River and Kingston where Lake Ontario flows into Saint Lawrence River...
, and covers 210,000 square metres (53
acreThe acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.One acre comprises...
s) within its secure perimeter. It received its first female patients on 27 May 1863, with the first male patients arriving on 27 February 1864. The original building plan of six blocks for men, and two for women, was completed in 1870. A further male block was built in 1902.
Due to overcrowding at Broadmoor, a branch asylum was constructed at
Rampton Secure HospitalRampton Secure Hospital is a high security psychiatric hospital near the village of Woodbeck between Retford and Rampton in the Bassetlaw District of Nottinghamshire, England...
and opened in 1912. Rampton was closed as a branch asylum at the end of 1919 and reopened as an institution for mental defectives, rather than lunatics. During World War One Broadmoor's block 1 was also used as a prisoner of war camp, called Crowthorne War Hospital, for mentally ill German soldiers.
After the escape of
John StraffenJohn Thomas Straffen was a British serial killer who was the longest-serving prisoner in British legal history. Straffen killed two young girls in the summer of 1951. He was found to be unfit to plead and committed to Broadmoor Hospital; during a brief escape in 1952 he killed again. This time he...
in 1952, who murdered a local child, the hospital set up an alarm system. The system is activated to alert people in the vicinity, including those in the surrounding towns of
SandhurstSandhurst is a small town and civil parish in England of 7,966 homes and 20,803 inhabitants , primarily domiciliary in nature with a few light industries...
,
WokinghamWokingham is a small market town and civil parish in Berkshire in South East England approximately 33 miles west of London. It is east-southeast of Reading and west of Bracknell. It spans an area of and, according to the 2001 census, has a population of 30,403...
,
BracknellBracknell is a town in the Bracknell Forest borough of Berkshire, England. It lies to the south-east of Reading, southwest of Windsor and west of London.The name derives from Braccen-Heale meaning "Bracken-covered Secret Place"...
and Bagshot, if any potentially dangerous patient escapes. This alarm system is based on World War II air-raid sirens, and a two-tone alarm sounds across the whole area in the event of an escape. The system is tested every Monday morning at 10 am for two minutes, after which a single tone 'all-clear' is sounded for a further two minutes. All schools in the area must keep procedures designed to ensure that in the event of a Broadmoor escape no child is ever out of the direct supervision of a member of staff. Sirens are located at Sandhurst School, Wellington College and other sites.
As well as providing patient care Broadmoor is also a centre for training and research.
Following the Peter Fallon QC inquiry into Ashworth Special Hospital, which found (amongst other things) serious concerns about security and abuses that came about from poor management, it was decided to review the security at all three special hospitals. Up until this time, each special hospital was responsible for maintaining its own security policies.
This review was made the personal responsibility of Sir
Alan LanglandsSir Robert Alan Langlands FRSE FRCP FRCGP FRCS FRCPSG FFPH FIA is notable for his service as chief executive of the National Health Service executive in England and, more recently, as principal and vice chancellor of the University of Dundee .-Early career:Robert Alan Langlands attended...
who at the time was Chief Executive of the
National Health Service (England)The National Health Service or NHS is the publicly-funded healthcare system in Great Britain...
. The report that came out of the review initiated a new partnership to be formed whereby the Department of Health sets out a policy of safety and security directions that all three special hospitals must adhere to. These directions are then updated or modified as needed.
This has resulted in upgraded physical security at Broadmoor from approximately category 'C' to category 'B' prison standards. Higher levels of security than this are then placed around certain buildings. New standards have also been formulated to increase procedural security and safety for the staff and other patients—this includes procedures and equipment for reducing the amount of contraband smuggled into the hospital.
Before the Langlands report, it had been anathema to think of enclosing the mentally ill behind razor wire, which was seen as reinforcing the stigma against them.
Misconceiving it as a prison
Because of the outside appearance of the buildings, especially its high walls and other visible security features, and the inaccurate news reporting it has in the past received, it is occasionally presumed by some members of the general public that Broadmoor Hospital is a prison.
Many of its patients are indeed referred to it by the criminal justice system, and its original design brief incorporated an essence of addressing criminality in addition to mental illness; however, the environmental layout inside and daily routine is designed around assisting the therapy practiced there, rather than to meet the criteria necessary for it to be run along the lines of a prison in its daily functions. Many staff were often members of the
Prison Officers AssociationThe POA: The Professional Trades Union for Prison, Correctional and Secure Psychiatric Workers is a trade union in the United Kingdom "for prison, correctional and secure psychiatric workers." It currently has a membership of 33,500...
, as opposed to the health service unions like COHSE.
Governance
From opening until 1948, Broadmoor was managed by a Council of Supervision, appointed by and reporting to the Secretary of State for the Home Department (Home Secretary). Thereafter, the Criminal Justice Act of 1948 transferred ownership of the Hospital to the Department of Health (and the new
NHSThe National Health Service or NHS is the publicly-funded healthcare system in Great Britain...
) and oversight to the
Board of Control for Lunacy and Mental DeficiencyThe Board of Control for Lunacy and Mental Deficiency was part of the United Kingdom's Ministry of Health, but was independent in that it reported to the Lord Chancellor...
established under the Mental Deficiency Act 1913. It also renamed the hospital Broadmoor Institution. The Hospital remained under direct control of the Department of Health - a situation which reportedly "combined notional central control with actual neglect" until the establishment of the
Special Hospitals Service AuthorityThe Special Hospitals Service Authority was a special health authority of the National Health Service in England from 1989 to 1996. It had responsibility for managing the three high security "special" psychiatric hospitals in England: Ashworth, Broadmoor and Rampton.The SHSA was established to...
in 1989, with Charles Kaye as initial Chief Executive.
In 1996 the SHSA itself was abolished, being replaced by individual
special health authoritiesA special health authority is a type of NHS trust which provide services on behalf of the National Health Service in England. Unlike other types of Trust, they operate nationally rather than serve a specific geographical area....
in each of the High Secure Hospitals. The Broadmoor Hospital Authority was itself dissolved on 31 March 2001. Then on 1 April 2001
West London Mental Health (NHS) TrustThe West London Mental Healthcare NHS Trust was established 1 October 2000.The head quarters is situated in St. Bernard's Hospital Building...
took over the responsibility for this hospital. This Trust reports to the
NHS ExecutiveThe National Health Service Executive was an integral part of the British Department of Health. It advised Ministers on the development of NHS policy and was responsible for the effective management of the NHS...
through the London Strategic Health Authority.
Current research
A new unit called the Paddock Centre was opened on 12 December 2005 to treat patients with a dangerous severe personality disorder (DSPD). This is a new and much debated diagnosis or label, that has two criteria: firstly that the individual be 'dangerous', i.e. that they are considered to be or represent a 'Grave and Immediate Danger' to the general public. It has been suggested that the threshold for this criterion be set at a greater than 50% chance of that individual committing serious harm upon another, from which the victim is unlikely to recover.
The second part of the DSPD criteria requires that the individual must suffer from a 'severe personality disorder', meaning that he or she has:
- A diagnosis of two or more personality disorders that meet the criteria as laid out in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders...
DSM IV –TR; or
- A significant score (i.e. 30 or higher) on the Hare Psychopathy Check list – Revised (PCL-R); or
- A slightly lower score (i.e. 25 to 29) on the Hare Psychopathy Check list and with one or more personality disorders but not including an Antisocial personality disorder
Antisocial Personality Disorder is defined by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual as "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood."To be diagnosed, an...
diagnosis.
Rather than create a new Mental Health Act, it may now only require the existing laws to be updated in order that people can be assessed for this condition before they have been committed to the forensic services by another route. The DSPD service in the Paddock Centre will be limited to males, as it is not yet scientifically agreed as to whether any women meet this criterion.
Individuals who do meet this criterion will be admitted to the new Paddock unit only as and when sufficient staff have been trained, to be able to provide and maintain the right therapeutic programmes and environment. The Paddock Centre is designed to eventually house 72 patients and is just one of four units being set up in England and Wales. The architects were Oxford Architects LLP
http://www.oxford-architects.com/index.html
As the West London Mental Health NHS Trust already carries out research, the Trust hopes that Broadmoor will become a centre of learning for this new type of therapy. The ultimate aim of this work is to reduce the cost to society that would accrue if no treatment was provided.
Notable patients of Broadmoor Hospital - past and present
- Edward Oxford
Edward Oxford was tried for high treason for attempting to assassinate Queen Victoria in 1840....
- David Copeland
David John Copeland is a former member of the British National Party and the National Socialist Movement, who became known as the "London Nail Bomber" after a 13-day bombing campaign in April 1999 aimed at London's black, Bangladeshi and gay communities.Over three successive weekends between April...
- Richard Dadd
Richard Dadd was an English painter of the Victorian era, noted for his depictions of fairies and other supernatural subjects, Orientalist scenes, and enigmatic genre scenes, rendered with obsessively minuscule detail...
- Ibrahim Eidarous, alleged member of al-Jihad
- Kenneth Erskine
Kenneth Erskine is an English serial killer who became known as the Stockwell Strangler.-Crimes:During 1986, Erskine murdered seven elderly people, breaking into their homes and strangling them; most often they were sexually assaulted. The crimes took place in London.His first victim was Mrs...
- June and Jennifer Gibbons
June and Jennifer Gibbons , identical twins who grew up in Britain, are a curious case involving psychology and language.-Early life:...
- Ronald Kray
- Thomas John Ley
Thomas John Ley was an Australian politician who was convicted of murder in England. It is highly likely that he was also involved in the deaths of a number of people in Australia.-Early life:...
- Roderick McLean
- Daniel Gonzalez
This article is about the spree killer. For the actor and model, see Daniel González.For the Chilean footballer, see Daniel González ...
- Robert Maudsley
Robert John Maudsley is a British serial killer responsible for the murders of four people. He committed three of these murders in prison after receiving a life sentence for a single murder...
- Margaret Rutherford
Dame Margaret Rutherford DBE was an English character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest...
's father |
William Chester Minor William Chester Minor, also known as W. C. Minors was an American army surgeon who made many scholarly contributions to the Oxford English Dictionary while confined to a lunatic asylum....
, known as The Surgeon of CrowthorneThe Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness and the Love of Words is a book by Simon Winchester first published in 1998. The American edition is called The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, and was published the same...
Daniel M'NaghtenDaniel M'Naghten was a Scottish woodturner who assassinated English civil servant Edward Drummond while suffering from paranoid delusions...
Robert NapperRobert Clive Napper is a convicted British murderer and rapist who was remanded in Broadmoor Hospital indefinitely on 18 December 2008 for the manslaughter of Rachel Nickell on 15 July 1992...
Nicky Reilly
John StraffenJohn Thomas Straffen was a British serial killer who was the longest-serving prisoner in British legal history. Straffen killed two young girls in the summer of 1951. He was found to be unfit to plead and committed to Broadmoor Hospital; during a brief escape in 1952 he killed again. This time he...
Peter SutcliffePeter William Sutcliffe is an English serial killer who was dubbed The Yorkshire Ripper. Sutcliffe was convicted in 1981 of murdering 13 women and attacking several others. He is currently serving life imprisonment in Broadmoor Hospital...
, known as Yorkshire Ripper
Charles BronsonCharles "Charlie" Bronson is a Welsh criminal often referred to in the British press as the "most violent prisoner in Britain". Born in Aberystwyth, Wales, Peterson often found his way into fights before he began a bare-knuckle boxing career in the East End of London...
Roy ShawRoyston Henry Shaw , also known as Roy "Pretty Boy" Shaw, Roy "Mean Machine" Shaw and Roy West, is an English millionaire, real estate investor, author and businessman from the East End of London who was formerly a notorious criminal and Category A prisoner...
Ronald TrueRonald True was an English murderer. He was found guilty of the murder of a prostitute in 1922 but reprieved by the Home Secretary on the grounds of insanity and confined for life in Broadmoor Hospital...
Graham Young, released by hospital as "fully recovered", and who later poisoned dozens of people, two fatally.
Antony Baekeland grandson of Leo Baekeland, after his trial for stabbing his motherBarbara Daly Baekeland was a wealthy socialite who was murdered by her son, Antony Baekeland. She was the wife of Brooks Baekeland, who was the grandson of Leo Baekeland, inventor of Bakelite plastic....
to death. |
See also
- Ashworth high-security psychiatric hospital
Ashworth Hospital is a high security psychiatric hospital at Maghull in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England.Ashworth is one of the three "special" hospitals in England and Wales, along with Rampton and Broadmoor, that exist to work with people who require treatment in...
- Forensic psychiatry
Forensic psychiatry is a sub-speciality of psychiatry. It encompasses the interface between law and psychiatry. A forensic psychiatrist provides services – such as determination of competency to stand trial – to a court of law to facilitate the adjudicative process.-Court work:Forensic...
- Rampton high-security psychiatric hospital
Rampton Secure Hospital is a high security psychiatric hospital near the village of Woodbeck between Retford and Rampton in the Bassetlaw District of Nottinghamshire, England...
- West London Mental Health NHS Trust, who holds the commission from the Secretary of State for the Home Department to run this hospital.
Further reading
Dewey Class 365/.942294 19. Sum: authors describe the treatment of some Broadmoor patients and together with their psychiatric and criminal histories.
External links
- Official website
- Berkshire Record Office (2008) Historic archives of Broadmoor Hospital. Local History. Accessed 2009-02-01
- Fallon, Peter; Bluglass, Robert; Edwards, Brian; Daniels, Granville (January 1999) Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Personality Disorder Unit, Ashworth Special Hospital. published by The Stationery Office. Accessed 2007-11-12
- Paddock centre. DSPD service. West London Mental Health Trust. Accessed 2007-05-15
- Home Office. National offenders management service. Dangerous People with Severe Personality Disorder Programme. Accessed 2007-06-07
- All in the mind (Wednesday 3 March 2004, 5.00 pm). BBC – Live chat: The rehabilitation of the mentally ill in Broadmoor and elsewhere. Accessed 2007-05-19
- BBC News background on Broadmoor Hospital
- Landscapes & Gardens (2002) Architectural listing for Broadmoor Hospital. University of York. Accessed 2007-05-19
- BBC News story on scandals and controversy regarding Broadmoor and other secure hospitals
- Together-UK Independent Patients' Advocacy Service, for Broadmoor Hospital. Accessed 2007-06-15
- Fallon, Peter; Bluglass, Robert; Edwards, Brian; Daniels, Granville (January 1999) - overview of the History of the Hospitals in the context of the Ashworth Inquiry http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm41/4194/ash-01a.htm#1.18.0 Accessed June 2008