Founding It opened at its current location on November 24, 1891, though it had existed at previous locations in White Sulphur Springs near Vallejo, California starting in 1883; a location in Fasking Park in Alameda County; and another location in
Santa Clara (near the intersection of Market and Washington Street) from 1885 to 1891. In 1902, Governor
Henry T. Gage ordered an investigation by
Frederick Winslow Hatch, the General Superintendent of State Hospitals in California for Dr. William M. Lawlor, the Superintendent of the California Home for the Care and Training of Feeble Minded Children. Lawlor was charged with the cruel treatment of patients under his care, including children.
Human experimentation Often overlooked, Sonoma conducted dangerous tests and trials on patients into the 1960s. Testing in mental institution alleviated the compensation and consent required for researches. Such treatments, including radiation dosing experiments, resulted in countless injuries and deaths that are still being investigated.
Abuse in the 1990s through 2010s In the 1990s, after a teenage boy was found injured and lying in a pool of blood in a shower, a class-action lawsuit resulted in a settlement that stepped up the exodus of residents from developmental centers.
2000 citations In 2000, state health inspectors accused Sonoma of numerous violations that resulted in deaths. The state Department of Health Services has issued at least 15 citations, carrying penalties totaling $142,800.This includes an incident where a female staff member sexually fondled a male patient, and two instances in which staffers hit residents. Because of the state citations, as well as extensive inspection reports, the federal Health Care Financing Agency refused to recertify the center and moved to cut the flow of $3 million in monthly Medicaid dollars. These violations came less than three years after federal inspectors documented deaths and unsanitary conditions in California's homes in 1997. In August 2001, a new bill required development centers to immediately report all resident "deaths and serious injuries of unknown origin" to their local law enforcement agency. This is after a 1999 investigation by the
Index-Tribune found that:In April 2002, Nicholas Turley, a 14 year old, collapsed at Sonoma Developmental Center. He died at the hospital 37 hours later. Chief deputy coroner Will Wallman said toxicology results indicated that Turley died from an overdose of
phenobarbital, a barbiturate that is commonly used as a sedative and to control seizures. The lab report showed that Turley's system had 75 milligrams of phenobarbital per liter of blood—nearly twice as much as what is considered safe. The investigation was closed with no answers. A subsequent independent probe by the
California Department of Public Health reveals that nurses examined and photographed patients in his care. They found suspicious abrasions on "the buttocks, thigh, arm and back" of 12 people. A forensic pathologist concluded that the marks were "strongly suggestive of electrical thermal burns," consistent with a Taser. All of the reported victims have extreme difficulty communicating, but when questioned, one of them uttered the words "stun" and Millora's name which the incident report identified as "Staff A." In another, a Sonoma caregiver was cleared of assault and went on to molest a second patient. In another, state investigators didn't act on a patient's complaint against a staff member. Her pregnancy was overlooked for several months and she eventually gave birth to a child. In 2012, the California Department for Public Health announced they were moving to revoke the license of the Sonoma Developmental Center's Intermediate Care Facility that services 290 residents with intellectual disabilities, and decertifying it from participation in the federal Medicaid program. Terri Delgadillo, director of the state Department of Developmental Services, said, "We have removed the Executive Director and the Clinical Director (of the Sonoma Developmental Center) and taken disciplinary action against several employees, including job terminations." Kimberly Williams, who once lived at Sonoma, said, "It was the worst time of my life. Shut these hellholes down now." Both the autopsy and the public health department's investigation suggested that a caregiver left the swabs in his mouth. The autopsy read,The center was fined $90,000. The 12 other citations for facilities found to have caused resident deaths ranged from $22,500 to $80,000. The Sonoma Developmental Center received eight citations linked to deaths of residents, with fines ranging from $1,000 (a resident with hypothermia didn't get immediate treatment) to $90,000 (the resident who swallowed the cotton swabs). In 2000, the main building was listed in the
National Register of Historic Places. ==Closure and reuse plan==