Fearplex at the Fairplex: Mangler's Haunted Asylum

AN ASYLUM WITH A CRIMINAL PAST:

In 1915 the California Legislature called for a comprehensive study of the problem of "feeble mindedness." As a result of this study, the Legislature recognized the need for an institution in Southern California and approved $250,000 on July 17, 1917, for the Pacific Colony. The original site was in Walnut. On March 21, 1918, the first patients were admitted to Pacific Colony with an expected capacity of 50 patients. However, it soon became evident that the site was inappropriate (lack of water, limited access) and the facility closed its doors on January 23, 1919 It took another four months until the new Pacific Colony opened at its location in Pomona and welcomed its first 27 "inmates" (as they were then called).

In 1920 director Patrick Haggard, deemed a second, more remote location for inmates considered "potentially violent towards themselves or others" was needed. He opened Pomona's California Colony on the current site of the Fairplex in the Winter of 1920. This facility handled the criminally insane and was originally designed as a measure of restraint and isolation from the rest of society. The facility was originally described as "A place - isolated from the rest of society - almost a self-sufficient small city unto itself. It was a world apart, isolated by more than just its physical location."

However the CRIPA (Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act) investigated the asylum in early 1921 and reports were filed with the State of California about inappropriate care, accidents, unexplained deaths of inmates and staff members, and inefficient medication use. Below is the actual report summary excerpt:

...at least 275 incidents at the facility involving allegations of abuse or neglect against residents. This included 40 allegations of neglect or neglectful abuse, five allegations of psychological abuse, three allegations of sexual abuse, four allegations of verbal abuse, and 29 other physical abuse allegations. Moreover, there were 189 reports of resident-against-resident physical assault and five allegations of resident-against-resident sexual assault.

There are a number of persons at the facility who have developed maladaptive behaviors such as self-injurious behavior or aggression. At the time of our visit, the facility reported that 229 residents had a behavior program and that over 15 percent of these programs included some form of restrictive component such as 4-point and 5-point restraints used on residents in chairs or in beds."

FINDINGS OF THE INVESTIGATION:

1. The most horrifying incident in recent years occurred on May 4, 1920, when an inmate died from multiple blunt force trauma after being stomped repeatedly in his bedroom at California Colony. There were two suspects in the investigation-- the victim's roommate and a facility Psychiatric Technician. Although there was evidence pointing to both suspects, the investigator concluded that the roommate had committed the crime, but was too mentally impaired to face any charges.

2. an internal investigation confirmed abuse after concluding that a staff person had punitively tied the hands of an inmate behind his back on two separate occasions and bound her mouth. One of these times, the staff person had placed a chair on top of her and sat on the chair while she lay on the floor with her hands bound.

3. It is difficult to determine the exact number of choking incidents leading to inmate and staff member death due to the facility.s inconsistent methodology for reporting and categorizing these often serious events.Sometimes choking incidents are categorized as .injuries,. and at other times they are categorized as .endangering health and safety.. This ambiguity creates a risk that significant instances of choking will not be recognized as such and investigated properly. Staff often do not report accidental deaths and other significant events in a timely manner.

A Danger To Society:

Restrainment Methods In over 90% of the cases we reviewed, there was no significant or sustained progress in reducing the rate of the inmates problem target behaviors. In some cases, the rate of problem behaviors increased. This suggests that the behavior programs as implemented had been ineffective.

As a result of the failure of behavioral training the inmates with problem behaviors, as well as those in their proximity, remained at risk of harm due to the consequences of the unchecked problem behaviors.Indeed, in 80 percent of the cases we reviewed, actual harm resulted from training deficiencies . either to the person with the problem behavior (e.g., from self-injury), or to others (e.g., from aggression). Because problem behaviors continue, these residents are then subjected to other means of control such as chemical restraint and the use of highly restrictive interventions such as emergency mechanical restraints.

The behavior management procedures at California Colony are very restrictive and pose significant risk of injury to inmates. These highly restrictive interventions include: mechanical restraint devices that involve 2-point (arms or legs), 4-point (arms and legs), or 5-point (arms and legs and head or neck) restraints, often utilized in restraint chairs; helmets;arm splints; padded mittens; leg and arm braces; wheelchair belts and other related wheelchair restraints; and seclusion. All of these interventions may be used either on a planned or on an emergency basis. The facility staff also engage in the highly restrictive practice of personal restraint,including the dangerous practice of prone personal restraint, which involves non-mechanical restrictions by staff such as physical holds and lying on top of residents on the floor.

MEDICATION:

The current procedures used in treatment planning and monitoring of medications substantially fail to meet generally accepted professional standards. In no case at California Colony did we find evidence that an inmate's psychiatric symptoms were being measured independently of his or her behavior problems. Without this, it is unlikely that one can determine whether or not the psychiatric treatment . typically psychotropic medication . is or is not working to address the inmate's underlying mental illness. The facility fails to monitor, measure, and document the side effects of psychotropic medication accurately and consistently. The facility fails to provide residents with adequate medical care.

RECOMMENDATION:

Closure of the Facility The investigative panel outlined pages and pages of violent deaths, inappropriate conditions, and lack of inmate care and recommended to the State of California that the facility be closed permanently. To stop the closure, the founder, Patrick Haggard sued the State of California and the case remained in litigation from October 12. 1921 until...

THE LAST STRAW:

Massacre in December 1921 In 1921 Mark A. Mangler was an inmate diagnosed as Criminally Insane after the murder of 17 co-workers at a Riverside shoe manufacturing plant. He was sent to the California Colony for restraint and seclusion to protect society. Just a month after his residency at the California Colony, on May 16th he and other inmates went on a killing spree. Using a show of strength the inmates attacked the staff with everything from surgical knives and medical instruments to wrapped up bed sheets used as methods of strangulation. In all 23 staff members and 4 inmates were killed that evening and there were 45 inmates reported as missing and were assumed to have escaped that very evening. Mr. Mangler was never found.

After the incident the complex was almost immediately shut down permanently and boarded up. For a few months the site sat in abandonment.

1922 L.A. County Fairgrounds is Born on the Site The City of Pomona agreed to purchase the 43-acre complex field from the Ricardo Vejer estate for use as a fairground. Research revealed that the name "Los Angeles County Fair" was not registered. Ground was broken and access roads were built. A half-mile race track and a grandstand seating 4,000 were constructed.

Following the success and public acceptance of the first Fair, a $75,000 bond issue was approved for the construction of permanent buildings and a grandstand for horse racing.

Fast Forward: Discovery 2006 While working in the Grandstand at the L.A. County Fairgrounds construction workers found boarded up tunnels that led to a still intact portion of the old California Colony facility. The escape tunnels were likely the ones used for inmates to escape in 1921. The building includes operating rooms, padded cells once used as seclusion, hospital inmate rooms, and former "bathing areas" where inmates were sprayed with high pressure hoses as a measure of punishment and compliance.

For the first time you will be able to tour the haunted past of the California Colony as Fearplex Presents:

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