Willowbrook State School
Willowbrook State School was a state-supported institution for children with intellectual disabilities located in the Willowbrook neighborhood on Staten Island in New York City from 1947 until 1987. The school was designed for 4,000, but by 1965 it had a population of 6,000. At the time, it was the biggest state-run institution for people with mental disabilities in the United States. Conditions and questionable medical practices and experiments prompted Senator Robert F. Kennedy to call it a "snake pit." The institution gained national infamy in 1972, when Geraldo Rivera did an exposé on the conditions there. Public outcry led to its closure in 1987, and to federal civil rights legislation protecting people with disabilities. A February 2020 New York Times investigation found that the alumni of Willowbrook continue to be abused in smaller group homes.A portion of the grounds and some of the buildings were incorporated into the campus of the College of Staten Island, which moved to Willowbrook in the early 1990s.
Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Willowbrook State School (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).Willowbrook State School
Victory Boulevard, New York Staten Island
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Geographical coordinates (GPS)
Latitude | Longitude |
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N 40.5994 ° | E -74.1506 ° |
Address
College of Staten Island (City University of New York College of Staten Island)
Victory Boulevard 2800
10314 New York, Staten Island
New York, United States
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