@obsidianmindaz: For more than a century, the institution now known as Arizona State Hospital has stood on the same Phoenix grounds where some of the state’s most troubling chapters in mental health history unfolded. Arizona’s territorial government established the institution in the 1880s, when ideas about mental illness, confinement, and who could be considered fit to live in society were very different from today. There was no formal legal process required to commit someone to the asylum, and people could be confined for conditions or circumstances that would never justify institutionalization today. As the population grew, so did the state’s control over the people inside. Arizona’s 1929 sterilization law authorized compulsory sterilization at certain state institutions. At this hospital, the procedures began in 1932. Thirty patients were ultimately sterilized, most of them women. The institution eventually became one of the largest psychiatric facilities in the state, holding nearly 2,000 patients by the late 1960s. Then Arizona changed its commitment standards in 1970, requiring patients to be considered a danger to themselves or others to remain confined. The change triggered a dramatic reduction in the hospital population and the release of longtime patients into the community. Among those who spent decades inside was Winnie Ruth Judd, the woman whose 1931 murders earned her the infamous nickname “Trunk Murderess.” After her death sentence was halted, Judd remained institutionalized for decades before finally being released in 1971. We’ve covered her full story on this page for anyone who wants to understand the case that led to her confinement. Today, the hospital is still operating on the same Phoenix grounds. Its history is still visible there too, including a cemetery containing about 2,400 graves, many marked only by numbers, and a surviving administration building from the early 20th-century complex that can be easy to miss from Van Buren Street. The buildings changed. The laws changed. The institution changed. But the ground itself has remained. Know an Arizona case that deserves more attention? Submit it through the link in our bio. #ArizonaAsylum #ArizonaFiles #TrueCrime #DarkHistory #Phoenix

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Tuesday 29 September 2026 13:19:27 GMT