2
REPORT ON THE RANGOON LUNATIC ASYLUM FOR THE YEAR 1893.
The buildings are for the most part suitable. The condition, however, of
the cottages for civil males requires notice. Several of these houses are becom-
ing much the worse for constant wear, and, although they are suited to the wants
of cleanly and quiet lunatics, they are not any longer fit for the accommodation
of insanes who are dirty in their habits or liable to become violent in their be-
haviour. The floors are so uneven that, when soiled with excrement, it is difficult
to clean them, and the walls so weak that any lunatic can kick them down at
will. Consequently the cottages are sometimes ill-smelling, and occasionally
lunatics break their way out, and escape from them.
When the Chief Commissioner visited the Asylum on the 14th June last, he
remarked :
" The pucca floors of the cottage barracks crack and are difficult to keep clean. The
cement should be removed when funds will allow and be re-placed by zinc plates."
But the Superintending Engineer has reported :
"The buildings are not worth spending much money on. I would request your
opinion on this subject, when an estimate for the work necessary will be prepared and
sent in."
This matter has now been referred to the Inspector-General of Prisons for the
favour of his opinion, and, as soon as his reply is received, the subject will be laid
before the Asylum Committee of Management.
Comprised among the many buildings in the civil male enclosure are three
small detached structures, formerly used for the accommodation of supposed
insanes and called " observation cells," but styled, on the plan which accom-
panies this report, " cottages formerly padded" (vide Nos. 19, 20, and 21). The
designation " observation cells " is singularly inappropriate, since, unless the doors
are open, it is not possible to see inside these cells. Their construction is such
that they defeat the very object for which they were used, and they are not occu-
pied by the lunatics. Reference is made to these cells for the purpose of invit-
ing attention to the fact that there is not in the whole Asylum any place in which
supposed insanes, sent for medical observation, can be suitably accommodated.
This matter is of some importance, seeing it has become a very common prac-
tice to send persons suspected of being lunatics into the Asylum for medical
observation.
Major Raikes, C.I.E., Officiating Commissioner of Pegu, on finding, when he
visited the Asylum in August 1893, that there was no separate accommodation
for supposed lunatics in the female enclosure, made the following remarks on the
subject in the Visitors' Book:—
" In this cage there are women in every stage of madness, as well as women who have
been placed under observation and who very possibly may be sane."
" I think a residence of a few days in this ' pandemonium' would be sufficient to unhinge
the mind of any sane person, and it appears to me absolutely necessary that persons who
are undergoing observation should be kept separate from declared lunatics."
Some time back a Burman, on his trial for theft, little thinking what was in
store for him, refused to speak, and the Magistrate concerned, under the impres-
sion the man was mad, sent him to the Asylum for observation. Being charged
with crime he was confined in the criminal enclosure with companions truly mad.
Struck with horror and dismay, he, regardless of consequences, recovered his
power of speech and implored to be separated from those around him and be
sent back to the Court. It was Saturday, and the Court being closed, he was
told that his wishes could not be complied with until Monday.
After being locked in his cell for the night, he converted his clothing and
bedding into tightly-twisted coils, which he ignited with the agency of two bam-
boos (a practice well known in jails), and with this smouldering torch cleverly burnt
out from its wood-work bed the bolt of the grated opening at the back of his
cell used for the removal of excreta and made good his escape from the Asylum.
He was subsequently re-captured and sentenced to two years' rigorous imprison-
ment for escape from lawful custody, a punishment which, under the circumstances,
did not err on the side of leniency. This occurrence, for the accuracy of which
I can vouch, as 1 was in temporary charge of the Asylum at the time it took place.