The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1949-01-07
A PuzzIing Situation

Time continues to pass and still no action is taken by
responsible state officials or the mental institutions board
on charges made by Rep. Hayden Campbell concerning
the alleged shocking conditions that exist at the Whitfield
mental institution.
The charges were made more than three months ago
by Rep. Campbell on the basis of a personal investigation
documented by written. and sworn evidence.
The mental institutions board, following the charges,
had an investigation made by DR.. Henry Boswell, head of
Magee sanatorium and a member of the board.
r. c. Stovall, chairman of the mental board, said that
the Boswell report shows no specific dereliction of duty
by members of the Whitfield staff and dismissed Rep.
Hayden's charges. Rep. Hayden, after examining the Bos-
well report, said that it bore out his charges.
The mental board then promptly proceeded to apply
the iron curtain technique, bottled up the Boswell re-
port, denied Rep Campbell further access to it and re-
fused to make it public despite the fact that it was a re-
port made by a public employee who is a member of a
board appointed to represent the public, and concerning
charges of shocking and brutal conditions at a public in
stitution for the mentally ill.
1t is a puzzing state of affairs and frankly one that
is beginning to give off a bad odor.
If, as chairman Stovall says, the Campbell charges
are unfounded and the Boswell report proves them SO,
why does he not then realize his obligations in the matter
and make the report public so that the people of Missis-
sippi, who pay for the operation of Whitfield and have
no desire to see their mentally i'll subjected to shocking
conditions and treatment, can know for themselves.
II the charges of Rep. Campbell are true, then that
too should be publicly admitted and the persons responsible
Tor the conditions punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Rep. Campbell made his charges on the basis of a two
month personal investigation, he says. and adds that he
has countless sworn documents to back them up. He has
conducted the entire affair in a dignified manner with no
attempt to seek publicity or headlines at the expense of
our mentally sick.
His charges against the personnel at Whitfield are
serious in the extreme and it seems to us that those involv-
ed in the administration of the institution would them
selves demand that the Boswell report be made public if
it exonerates them.
AS we have said before, we think it high time that
Governor Wright himself steps into the picture and either
uses the weight of his office to see that the Boswell report
is made public, or appoint an impartial board of investi-
is made public, or appoints an impartial board of investi-
them either true or untrue.
Two men are presently being prosecuted in Louisiana
for brutal treatment of mental patients at an institution
in that state, while another is being tried for kidnapping
a young girl patient. Other inexcusable conditions have
been revealed;
We don't want those conditions to exist in Mississippi,
and it is high time that Mississippians either be given facts
that will prove they do not exist at Whitfield, or be told
that they do exist. In the latter case proper steps should
be taken Immediately to clean up the condition and pun
ish those guilty for it. y