New Britain herald., 1927-01-14
S&,S50,0O0 ASKED
 IN NEW BUILDINGS
 SURVEY FOR STATE
(Continued from First Page)

tContinued from First Page) Trumbull and Seth Low Pierresont of Ridgefield. chairman.
 The other members of the com mission are Elwyn T. Clark, Star ling w. Childs and John M. Wad- hams.
 Hundreds Kept Waiting
 In its study of conditions in the treatment of the feeble minded and epileptic, the commission found that the Mansfield institution has a con- stant waiting list of from four to five hundred. Even this large number on the waiting list is not an accurate index of the need" says the report, because many agencies no longer make application for ad- mission to Mansfield, knowing that such applications are useless except in very urgent instances.
 On the basis of statistics from Massachusetts and New York the commission estimated that a popu- lation in Connecticut of 100000 in 1850 would require institutional care for approximately 2,00o feeble minded and 800 epileptics.
 "The best opinion in the country at the present time is that an insti- tuition for the feeble minded should not exceed 1,500 inmates and there can be no escape from the conclu- sion that Connecticut is faced with the necessity, first, of building the Mansfield State Training school and hospital to a capacity of 1,500, and, second. of constructing a second in- stitution of equal size for the care of the Predetermined and epileptic xxx The new institution should be located in the southwestern part of the state near the center of population"
 Long IAne Farm
 Long Lane farm, for delinquent girls. was found by the commission mot only much over,crowded, but gradually developing stagnant population of defective delinquent girls who are embarrassing and slowing up the work with the more hopeful and remediable types of de- linquency. xxx
 The logical procedure In this state would seem to be to devote Long Lane farm to the care of the younger delinquent girls of normal or border-line mental defect, which would allow that institution to se- cure a much more rapid turn over of inmates. This would permit greater concentration on this more hopeful group, which should be in the institution shorter time than those who hve considerable mental defect or who show permanent de- linquent tendencies.
 There should be developed at the present state farm for women a pro- gram for taking care of the delin- quent girls who are feeble-m minded. emotionally unstable or suffering from other mental defect. and who have not responded to reasonable period Of training at Long Lane farm
 State Farm For Women.
 At the present time no accurate estimate can be made of the size to which the state farm for women should be developed, but it would seem reasonable to figure on an ulti- mate group Of at least 15O to 200 defective delinquent girls under IS, and more permanent colony of older girls which might total an ad- ditional 200, making the total pop uation in the institution in the neighborhood of 400 when fully de- veloped. Any comprehensive plan for the layout of future building and ad- iuncts there, however, should doubt less compensate the possibility of a larger ultimate population.
 S25O,OOO IS COST.
 The cost of the new department at the state farm is estimated by the commission at not less than s250,00 and 1t is recommended that for the present expansion at Long Lane farm should cease and funds requested there for enlarge ment of capacity should be used to begin the new department at the state farm.
 The growing financial load uponI the state for the ultimate care of in-' creasing numbers of state charges, many of whom could have been kept from the state institutions, urges very strongly that the state establish | a central, coordinating, professional department for mental hygiene" the report says in regard to the pro- posed department.
 Such a department would serve primarily in the capacity of making continuance studies of the problems peculiar to Connecticut and serve in | an advisory capacity to the schools and courts. It should assist in the | establishment of various forms of mental hygiene clinics in different communities and be responsible for the psychiatric examination of back ward children in the schools, and, in short, head up the entire program dealing with mental disorders"
 In opening it's discussion of it's findings, the report says that the committee was forced to the conclu- sion that "the most pressing insti- tutional need facing the state was more adequate provision for cus- todial care of the feeble-minded and other mental detectives" and in pre- senting the summary of it's recom- mendations. the commission speaks of the four items as "the step which the state cannot afford to defer.'
 Are Well Run.
 The mapority of the states cus- todial institutions were found by the commission to be well run, with such attention to economical admin istration as was consistent with ade- quate care of persons committed to .l. .ts.r l., ,,,rrD