The Coconino sun., 1924-02-01
ARIZONA TAKING CARE
OF lO1 INSANE PEOPLE
WHO BELONG OUTSIDE

A census taken of the inmates of
the state hospital for the insane by
DR.. George w. Stephens, superinten-
dent of the institution, at the request
of Governor Hunt, shows that 101 of
the inmates Of the hospital, or nearly
one-fifth of the total number COM
mitted are not citizens of the state
of Arizona
The census disclosed that 101 of
the inmates had lived in the state less
than one year prior to their commit
ment to the hospital, and that the
majority of that number had resided
in the state less than six months. In
some instances, the inmate had lived
IN the state only few days before
being sent to the hospital.
The residence of SO of the total
number is unknown. There are 586
inmates in the hospital, of which 1863
are natives of the United States and
223 are native of some foreign coun-
try. Only so Of the number in the
hospital are natives of the state. of
Arizona. OF the total number at
the hospital, Alb are men and 173 are
women.
The need of state law requiring
that non-citizens of the state who be-
come insane be sent back to the states
they claim to be a citizen of, is ap-
parent, it was pointed out by the gov
ernor.
At present, he said, the asylum is
filled almost to capacity and Arizona
is put to the expense Of taking care
Of Of
who should be taken care of by other
states. Nearly one-fifth of the total
number in the hospital, the governor
explained, are not citizens of Arizona
and therefore should not be taken
care Of by this state.
A bill making it compulsory to send
insane persons not citizens Of the state
back to their former homes was in
troduced at the last session of the
legislature, the governor said, but the
bill was never acted upon by the leg
islative body.
A number of other states have such
laws, the governor said, giving as an
illustration, California. The records
of the census made by DR.. Stephens
shows that only recently one woman
was sent to Arizona from California
and committed to the asylum here on
the grounds that she was a citizen of
this state and not of California.
The census also shows that in an
other case, man was given a ticket
in California and a small sum Of
money, the ticket carrying him as far
as Tucson, where he was loaded from
the train. A few days later he was
picked up in Tucson and committed to
the state hospital.
Recently the governor addressed
letter to the immigration officials Civ
ing list Of So inmates of the state
hospital who are citizens of foreign
countries and subject to deportation
from the United States So far no
action has been taken on the request
of the governor that these people be
deported.
DR.. Stephens in submitting the
census to the governor stated that it
is his purpose to weed out and return
to the state to which they belong, all
the inmates in the hospital not citi-
zens of Arizona.
The census shows that in several
cases, persons committed to the hos
pital here, were inmates of other state
hospitals for the insane and were dis
charged. Shortly after reaching Ari-
zona, the records show, a large per
cent of these were recommitted to the
hospital here.
In one case the inmate escaped
from hospital in the east and came
to Arizona. Some time after his ar
rival in this state, he was committed
to the hospital in Arizona.
The records of the state auditors
office show that during the fiscal
year ending June 80, 1923, it cost the
state $168,057.51 to operate the state
hospital, of which amount $6,344.39
was raised from non-tax sources and
$151,713.12 was raised by taxation.
A bill similar to the one presented
to the sixth legislature will be pre-
sented to the next session of the leg
Governor Hunt said, and its
passage urged.