A Mad World and Its Inhabitants

In 1872, journalist Julius Chambers had himself committed to the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum to investigate the conditions at the institution. After ten days among the inmates, Chambers's articles would help free a dozen sane patients, forced an asylum reorganization and led to a change in the legislation. Fifteen years before Nellie Bly's famous “Ten Days in a Mad-House,” leading muckraker Julius Chambers led the way in exposing abuse at psychiatric institutions.