This entrance gate marks the road to the abandoned mental health facility known locally as "Old Bryce."
The unofficial term “Old Bryce” refers to a pair of abandoned buildings in a rural area of Northport that served as early establishments in the history of mental health in the state of Alabama. The S.D. Allen Intermediate Care Facility was open from 1977 to 2003 to serve patients older than 65 years old. However, the Jemison building, which is the one most offen referred to as "Old Bryce" served as a dormitory for high-functioning patients of the Partlow Developmental Center in Tuscaloosa. The building opened in the 1920s and the last patients of the facility were served in the 1970s.
Paul Davis, of the The Tuscaloosa News, reported on the Jemison facility in 1970, "Human feces were caked on the toilets and walls; urine saturated the aging oak floors; many beds lacked linen; some patients slept on floors. Archaic shower stalls had cracked and spewing shower heads. One tiny shower closet served 131 male patients; the 75 women patients also had but one shower. Most of the patients at Jemison were highly tranquilized and had not been bathed in days. All appeared to lack any semblance of treatment. The stench was almost unbearable.”
Conditions at the facility and at the Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa led to a landmark lawsuit - Wyatt v. Stickney. In October 1970, Ricky Wyatt, a fifteen-year-old "juvenile delinquent" who has housed at Bryce Hospital despite not being indicated with a mental illness, became the named plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit. His aunt, W. C. Rawlins, was a former employee who had been one of one hundred employees laid off at the facility earlier in the year. Bryce Hospital at the time had 5,200 patients living in what the Montgomery Advertiser likened to a "concentration camp." Together they testified about intolerable conditions and improper treatments designed only to make the patients more manageable. In 1971 the plaintiff class was expanded to include patients at Alabama's two other inpatient mental health facilities, Searcy Hospital (Mt. Vernon) and Camp Partlow (Coker). The resulting court-ordered agreements formed the basis for federal minimum standards for the care of people with mental illness or mental retardations who reside in institutional settings. In 1999 a new settlement agreement was made, recognizing a great deal of progress. The case was finally dismissed on December 5, 2003, with the finding by Judge Myron Thompson that Alabama was in compliance with the agreement. The S. D. Allen facility here was finally closed that year.
The standards elaborated in that agreement have served as a model nationwide. Known as the "Wyatt Standards," they are founded on four criteria for evaluation of care:
- Humane psychological and physical environment
- Qualified and sufficient staff for administration of treatment
- Individualized treatment plans
- Minimum restriction of patient freedom.
The case of Wyatt v. Stickney came to a conclusion after 33 years, through the tenure of nine Alabama governors and fourteen state mental health commissioners, the longest mental health case in national history. The State of Alabama estimates its litigation expenses at over $15 million.
Ghost stories and other folklore about segregated conditions and former slaves being housed here are possibility conflated with the history of Bryce Hospital near the University of Alabama campus, which dates to before the Civil War and undoubtedly saw poor treatment of black patients. Given that this particular facility dates to the 20th century, it's unlikely that many former slaves were ever housed here. Even the name "Old Bryce" is a misnomer, since the facility near UA predates it by more than half a century.
University of Alabama students and "ghost" hunters frequent these abandoned buildings, especially around Halloween. The buildings and land are owned by the state Department of Mental Health, and are patrolled by police looking for trespassers on a regular basis, so proceed down the road at your own risk. Retrieving the cache does not require you to enter the grounds.