{"id":203,"date":"2012-08-03T12:04:03","date_gmt":"2012-08-03T12:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetimechamber.co.uk\/beta\/?page_id=203"},"modified":"2017-12-27T19:34:59","modified_gmt":"2017-12-27T19:34:59","slug":"the-padded-cell","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thetimechamber.co.uk\/beta\/sites\/asylums\/asylum-history\/the-padded-cell","title":{"rendered":"The Padded Cell"},"content":{"rendered":"

As infamous as the Asylums themselves, the Padded Cell was an essential piece of equipment within the wards.\u00a0 They were a special room and it was not intended that patients were housed in them for long periods of time; it was used so that patients did not harm themselves when suffering from an epileptic or psychotic episode.\u00a0\u00a0 Suicidal and violent patients were also placed within them.<\/p>\n

Padded cells rose in use when\u00a0Dr John Conolly<\/a>, the Third Medical Superintendent at\u00a0Hanwell Asylum<\/a>, set about abolishing the use of mechanical restraint to control the patients within the Hanwell Hospital when he was elected the in-house physician in 1839.\u00a0 This was the first time that the idea had been implemented on a large scale; the Lincoln & the York Retreat were the first to use the idea – however it met stiff resistance within the mental health community, but it eventually led to abolishment of mechanical restraint in other hospitals.\u00a0 By using a system of therapy, seclusion (including padded cells), confinement and some sedatives Conolly\u00a0 was able to effectively control patients within the Hanwell Hospital.\u00a0 The only restraint used was ‘heavy clothing’ but this was to prevent patients from tearing their clothes of breaking crockery.\u00a0 With these ideas, the Lunacy commission adopted the ideas and implemented them around the country.\u00a0 Pictured is the padded cell at Stanley Royd Hospital, which was last used in 1959 and removed in 1963.<\/p>\n

An account from a visit to\u00a0St Francis Hospital<\/a>\u00a0by a reporter from the Brighton Gazette on the 1st of August, 1861 describes the padded cell.<\/p>\n

“One small door was unlocked, and we looked in, not upon a patient, but upon an empty room, a room we had heard of as part of such a building, – the padded room, – thickly covered all around and on the floor with padded cloth, a sure preventative of self-mischief from even the most violent.\u00a0 And this was untenuated, and more than this it was seldom used we were told.<\/em>\u00a0”\u00a0 Taken from Sweet Bells Jangled Out of Tune – James Gardener – ISBN 0-9536101-0-1.<\/p>\n

The construction of the Padded Cell was simple, it was a normal seclusion room that had been modified to allow the fitment of a double locking door and padded walls.\u00a0 The padded walls them selves were made of leather pouches, or canvas, that were then stuffed with horses hair and painted; this provided a very durable but firm padding.\u00a0 Often the panels would become ripped by patients, if this was to occur they would be sent to the in house upholsterer for repair, whereby they would be recovered and painted.\u00a0 One such manufacturer, and installer, the Pocock Brothers advertised their padded rooms. \u00a0 The more modern padded rooms that have been found at\u00a0Harperbury Colony<\/a>\u00a0were made from foam and plastic; this provided a very soft room in which epileptic patients could be placed whilst they suffered a seizure.\u00a0 A large Asylum, Such as\u00a0Horton<\/a>\u00a0in Epsom had 28 full and half padded cells installed through out the buildings, this is approximately one cell ward.<\/p>\n

With the introduction of new psychiatric treatments, sedatives and medical procedures the padded cell became a redundant tool in the mental health profession.\u00a0 Their withdrawal started after World War Two, along with the shift in the treatment of patients –\u00a0Whitecroft Hospital<\/a>\u00a0had theirs removed as late as the 1980s.\u00a0 In speaking with former staff from Claybury Hospital, the recounted how a small number of the padded cells (or paddeds as they referred to them) were retained within the hospital, and were re-employed for ne uses.\u00a0 TheTimeChamber was told how they had a blind dementia patient who lived within a half padded cell because it was the safest place for here to be left alone without supervision.\u00a0 There is only one padded cell that remains in situ and that is at\u00a0West Park Hospital, Epsom<\/a>, although it is in a very bad state of repair; another example is the\u00a0Stanley Royd Museum<\/a>.<\/p>\n