A special hell: institutional life in Alberta’s eugenic years

In A Special Hell: Institutional Life in Alberta’s Eugenic Years, Claudia Malacrida examines the disturbing institutional care of individuals with intellectual disabilities in Alberta during the twentieth century. In particular, Malacrida examines Michener Centre in Red Deer (originally entitled the Provincial Training School) ‒ an institution built in 1923 to house those deemed as ‘mental defectives.’ Drawing from survivors’ stories, former workers’ accounts, and governmental and institutional documents, Malacrida exposes the ways that the intertwining of institutionalization and segregation fostered practices where ‘passive’ eugenics flourished. Passive eugenics included normalizing judgments, compulsory schooling that reinforced prejudicial public health discourses, classifying people by ‘mental age,’ and, most disturbingly, involuntary sterilization procedures of ‘inmates,’ which is the term Malacrida prefers for this institutionalized population. Ultimately, these institutional procedures and policies reinforced ‘active’ eugenic programs of higher government infrastructures such as the Alberta Eugenics Board.

According to Malacrida, the Michener Centre’s initial objective was to optimize social inclusion of those deemed as ‘mental defectives.’ Through formal education and vocational training, the institution promised to provide short-term stays and customized learning opportunities that would reintegrate those with intellectual disabilities into their communities. However, Malacrida emphasizes how the promise of social inclusion was far from fulfilled. She discusses how individuals who entered the institution were rarely provided with supportive services of reintegration. Indeed, ‘less than 20 % of all children admitted were provided with any formal education, let alone provided training that would permit them to reintegrate into the community’ (4). In truth, Malacrida reports that many of the inmates resided in the facility from early adolescent to elderly age or in some cases death. For example, inmate Guy Tremblay − who obtained a brain injury in an automobile accident − entered the facility when he was nine and did not leave the institution until the age of 39. Notably, during his confinement he was sterilized.

Malacrida examines the key economic, institutional, and classificatory mechanisms involved in the eugenic practices of residential institutions during the first half of the twentieth century. First, she argues that society historically institutionalized disabled people as a means to ensure economic equality. This process suggests that a person with intellectual disabilities is viewed as incapable of self-care and/or contributing economically. Thus, the rationale for institutionalization was a means to compensate for lack of social production. Second, the development of universal education in western societies enforced ideas of normalcy. Indeed, compulsory schooling which incorporated public health services to school procedures fostered normalization of both the body and the intellectual capabilities of students. Third, selection of residents was highly based on eugenic traits. Sadly, children stemming from alcoholic, poorer, and single-parent households represented the general population of the institution. Lastly, despite the proven inaccuracy of ‘technological’ tools (such as the Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale intelligence), professionals immensely relied on these methods to diagnose the level of ‘defect’ of a person. Malacrida suggests that all of these social dynamics draw on the eugenic notion that those with intellectual disabilities do not possess full personhood (22).

A central focus within this book is eugenic sterilization. Broadening her argument on the use of standardized tests, Malacrida explains how IQ testing was used as the primary determinant of ‘defectiveness’ and often imposed derogatory, diagnostic labels on people with intellectual disabilities such as idiots, imbeciles, the feeble-minded, and morons. Malacrida describes the severe legal and ethical consequences of such medicalized terms. In line with eugenic notions, Malacrida discusses how these diagnostic labels were essential for deeming inmates as ‘constitutionally inferior’ and for supporting the perturbing claim that ‘some people are not fit for full citizenship in their communities nor for full sexual or reproductive life’ (22). Frequently, inmates of Michener Centre were forced to endure invasive operations to not only prevent pregnancy and reproduction, but also to suppress sexual activity and ‘sexually deviant behavior.’

Women inmates were especially vulnerable to eugenic sterilization. Malacrida describes these occurrences as ‘gendered eugenic culture’ where surgeries performed on women inmates were disproportionally higher and the Alberta Eugenics Board often granted more leniency to male inmates. For example, some caregivers of women would petition the courts and medical staff for operations that would cease menstruation and thus create ‘easier’ care environments. One of the more horrific cases was that of a female inmate named Leilani Muir. She was forced to be sterilized despite never completing a psychometric test – an assessment tool the institution regarded as necessary for facilitating sterilization procedures. During court proceedings, it was revealed Muir was ‘heavily and inappropriately’ medicated at the time of her IQ test (203). At the time of her trail, new test scores showed her IQ score to be ‘well within the normal range’ (203). Men also experienced different forms of gender bias. For instance, male children with Down syndrome were routinely sterilized – a process that Malacrida finds surprising, since she asserts that medical research indicates they are typically sterile.

Perhaps one of the most disturbing topics Malacrida discusses is the violence that occurred within the institutional walls of Michener Centre. Dehumanizing activities such as limited personal space and time facilitated a culture of violence which Malacrida suggests was so ingrained within daily institutional life that both inmates and workers developed an indifference to brutality. Countless examples of vicious acts of violence on inmates are documented. Both ex-workers’ and survivors’ accounts of violence paints a disheartening picture of inmates being penalized for displaying human responses to extraordinary acts of violence. For instance, one charge nurse in particular would command inmates to line up along the wall while she threw rubber balls at them. If a resident responded to the throws, they would be locked in a secluded room for punishment.

Malacrida delivers an exceptionally well-crafted analysis of the severe social exclusion, dehumanization, and devaluation of former inmates of the Michener Center. A Special Hell finely incorporates survivors’ stories, workers’ accounts, and historical overview producing an authentic work. Most importantly, this book provides a voice to survivors who are traditionally silenced.

Anna Neller
University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA
[email protected]
© 2016 Anna Neller
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2016.1152017