The site opened on May 15, 1935, on under the name "United States
Narcotic Farm" then changed shortly after to "
U.S. Public Health Service Hospital." During World War II, it was used as a temporary internment center for the detainment of mostly innocent
German,
Japanese, and
Italian Americans. In 1967, it changed its name again to "National Institute of Mental Health, Clinical Research Center." Its original purpose was to treat people who "voluntarily" were admitted with
drug abuse problems and treat them, with mostly experimental treatments; it was the first of its kind in the United States. The site included a
farm where patients would work. Throughout the life of the institution as a prison/hospital, approximately two-thirds of those sent to the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital were considered volunteers. While many traveled to the institution on their own to volunteer for treatment, other so-called volunteers were in fact motivated to go there in lieu of federal sentencing. The remaining one-third of the prison's population, which reached 1,499 inmates at its peak, were there due to federal charges either directly or indirectly related to drug use. In 1974, the institution became a federal prison but maintained a "psychiatric hospital" title until 1998, the year 2 inmates killed another with a fire extinguisher. Most psychiatric patients were subsequently moved to other federal medical centers, although the change in mission was due to the psychiatric function being transferred to a new
Federal Medical Center in Devens, Massachusetts, and not the homicide. ==Literature==