Tag Archives: Commissioners of Insanity

Asylum Supervision

Yankton Insane Asylum, S.D.

Yankton Insane Asylum, S.D.

Almost every area of the country provided institutional care for its insane members. Any state government which created an asylum also tried to provide oversight in some way–concerning both patients’ admissions and the facility’s administration. Continue reading

Beyond Reason

Rosebud Indian Agency, courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society

Rosebud Indian Agency, courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society

Many patients at the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians did not receive a formal hearing or doctor’s examination before being sent to the asylum. Authorities at least went through the motions with Peter Thompson Good Boy.

He was accused of stealing a horse on the Rosebud Reservation, and spent some time in the Deadwood, SD jail while awaiting trial. Continue reading