Conditions and Abuse: The Reality Exposed

For sixty years, Pennhurst operated largely in obscurity, hidden behind dense forests and the deliberate isolation of institutionalization.[1] That changed dramatically in 1968 when Bill Baldini, a young reporter for Philadelphia's WCAU-TV (Channel 10), received a tip about conditions inside the institution. What he documented would shock a nation and catalyze a movement.

"Suffer the Little Children" - The 1968 Exposé

In late June 1968, journeyman reporter Bill Baldini ventured to Pennhurst in search of a story. Unwilling to take "no" as the official response to his inquiry, Baldini gained unheard-of access to the interior of the sprawling complex in rural Chester County.[2] What resulted was remarkable, indeed earth-shattering in its consequences. No reporter had ever been given such unrestricted admission, let alone the unfettered ability to film what he witnessed first-hand.

His five-part television series, entitled "Suffer the Little Children"—its title taken from the Gospel of Mark—aired from July 1 to 5, 1968, and introduced a new style of television journalism.[3] In the process, it contributed to a revolution in public policy and constitutional rights regarding individuals with disabilities.

"Suffer the Little Children" (1968)
Bill Baldini's groundbreaking five-part exposé on conditions at Pennhurst State School.
Warning: Contains disturbing imagery of institutional abuse and neglect.
Video courtesy of Internet Archive / NBC10 Philadelphia

Impact of the Exposé: Baldini's sparse narrative and compelling film footage documented the wanton neglect, indignity, and mistreatment of society's most vulnerable citizens—individuals with intellectual disabilities—who were incarcerated without their consent.[2] Images of half-clothed children and young adults wandering aimlessly in overcrowded day rooms were accompanied by a cacophony of sounds, assaulting the senses at each turn.

What the Documentary Revealed

The 1968 documentary showed a place housing 2,791 people—about 900 more than administrators believed the buildings could safely accommodate—with only 9 medical doctors and 11 teachers, none with special education training.[4] The images were nearly impossible for viewers to comprehend:

  • Full-grown adults strapped to cribs, their hands and feet bound
  • Residents sitting naked in their own waste in bare dayrooms
  • Individuals rocking, pacing, and exhibiting signs of profound distress and under-stimulation
  • Overcrowded facilities with minimal supervision
  • Complete lack of therapeutic programming or education
A Resident's Plea: When asked by reporters what he would most like in the world, one lucid and coherent patient gave a heartbreaking reply: he simply wanted "home."[5] Many residents had no memories of life outside Pennhurst's walls.

Systematic Abuse and Neglect

The abuse at Pennhurst was both systematic and pervasive. Court documents from the 1978 ruling detailed extensive constitutional violations:[6]

Physical Restraints

Residents were routinely subjected to physical restraints for extended periods. In one documented case from 1976, a woman was physically restrained for 2,692 hours across four months. There were only 2,920 total hours in those four months.[7] The asylum's staff would often tie the patients to their beds and leave them alone for hours if not the entire day. This meant many of them would be covered in their own feces by the time the orderlies returned.[8]

Medical Abuse

Staff members, overwhelmed and under-trained, sometimes resorted to brutal methods of control. Residents who bit others—often out of frustration or mental distress—had all their teeth removed.[8] Years after the institution closed, visitors would find teeth in the tunnels beneath the buildings. Patients who showed aggressiveness were often drugged to calm them down rather than receiving proper therapeutic care.[8]

Neglect and Isolation

Residents were tied to beds and left for hours, covered in their own waste by the time orderlies returned. Aggressive residents were heavily drugged to maintain order rather than receiving proper therapeutic care. Many were confined to seclusion rooms for days on end as punishment rather than treatment.[9]

Staff Perspectives on the Abuse

The 1968 documentary revealed another disturbing aspect: many staff members were deeply troubled by what they were forced to participate in. In interviews conducted by Baldini, attendants and administrators expressed relief at finally having someone listen to their concerns. As Baldini later recounted, they told him: "Like god I've been trying to get somebody to listen to me all these years and no one was listening."[10]

These employees had carried immense guilt, sick of implementing treatments they knew were wrong but powerless to change the system. The problem was not individual cruelty but systemic failure—chronic understaffing, inadequate funding, lack of training, and a philosophy that viewed institutionalization as the only option.

Staffing Crisis: A 1946 report documented that only seven physicians served over 2,000 patients at Pennhurst, with an additional 1,000 individuals on the waiting list. Doctors were not staffed on weekends, leaving nurses to manage crises without the ability to prescribe medication.[11]

The Culture of Institutionalization

Beyond physical abuse, Pennhurst exemplified the psychological damage of institutionalization. The facility practiced extreme segregation—residents were separated by ability, gender, and whether they received "training" or "custodial" care. This classification system determined every aspect of their lives, from where they slept to whether they received any education or therapy.[12]

Distance and poverty kept many families from visiting. Professional advice of the era often discouraged family contact, suggesting that parents should surrender their children to the institution and move on with their lives. As court testimony revealed, families were often unaware of "the type of home to which they and the courts had committed their loved ones."[13]

Escalating Crisis: 1970s-1980s

Despite the attention brought by the 1968 exposé and the allocation of $21 million in state funding, conditions at Pennhurst continued to deteriorate. By 1981, Time magazine described Pennhurst as having "a history of being understaffed, dirty and violent."[14]

In 1983, nine employees were indicted on charges ranging from slapping and beating patients (including some in wheelchairs) to arranging for patients to assault each other.[15] This criminal indictment came years after the court had already found constitutional violations and ordered improvements.

Baldini's Approach: Blaming the System, Not Individuals

Notably, Bill Baldini placed blame not on individual staff members but on society's indifference. In demonstrating the persuasive power of the media to shape public opinion, Baldini offered an implicit criticism of government policy while holding out the possibility of a more humane and compassionate future.[2]

Baldini himself was physically and emotionally exhausted by the last night's broadcast, and his viewing audience was left to ponder how this could be happening in Pennsylvania and America. The broadcast was a foundational moment in the burgeoning disability civil rights movement, said to be America's most undervalued freedom struggle.[2]

Public Response

The grassroots response to "Suffer the Little Children" was immediate and powerful. Baldini urged viewers to contact their state legislators and demand change. The public outcry resulted in Pennsylvania allocating $21 million for the deteriorating facility, though much of this funding was redirected to community programs, foreshadowing the deinstitutionalization movement to come.[16]

Parent-advocates, social workers, and attorneys joined forces to challenge the dehumanizing conditions at Pennhurst and similar institutions. Their groundbreaking advocacy laid the foundation for lawsuits that would transform how America cared for its disabled citizens.

Legacy of the Exposé: As we now know, the Pennhurst story was repeated at many of the nearly 300 state facilities across the country.[2] Baldini's work shattered Philadelphians' and other Americans' easy complacency and blind indifference to what had been occurring for decades behind institutional walls far removed from public scrutiny.

The Role of Eugenics

The conditions at Pennhurst cannot be separated from the eugenics ideology that shaped its founding and operation. Under the classification of mental prowess, residents were listed as either "imbecile" or "insane." Physically, patients could be declared either "epileptic" or "healthy."[17]

A 1913 Commission report recommended a program of permanent custodial care and urged preventing the "intermixing of genes" with the general population. This dehumanizing philosophy viewed people with disabilities as biologically inferior threats to be controlled and contained, not as individuals deserving of dignity, rights, and opportunity.

Citations and Sources

[1] "'The Shame of Pennsylvania:' Inside the tragic and frightening Pennhurst State School and Hospital." The Vintage News. August 22, 2017. Description of Pennhurst's isolation behind dense forests.
[2] J. David Smith and Michael L. Wehmeyer. "Remembering 'Suffer the Little Children' and Pennhurst's Enduring Legacy." The Philadelphia Inquirer. June 22, 2018. Comprehensive analysis of Baldini's work and its impact.
[3] Baldini, Bill. "Suffer the Little Children." Five-part television series. WCAU-TV (Channel 10) Philadelphia. Broadcast July 1-5, 1968. Archived at Temple University Urban Archives and Internet Archive.
[4] "Pennhurst State School and Hospital - The Little House of Horrors." August 1, 2025. Statistics on population and staffing from 1968 documentary.
[5] Patient testimony documented in "Suffer the Little Children" (1968). Resident named Johnny expressing desire to go "home."
[6] Halderman v. Pennhurst State School and Hospital, 446 F. Supp. 1295 (E.D. Pa. 1978). Court findings on conditions and constitutional violations.
[7] Court testimony documented in Halderman case, detailing specific instances of prolonged physical restraint.
[8] "'The Shame of Pennsylvania.'" The Vintage News. August 22, 2017. Documentation of teeth removal, drugging, and restraint practices.
[9] Halderman v. Pennhurst, 446 F. Supp. 1295 (E.D. Pa. 1978). Findings on seclusion and isolation practices.
[10] Bill Baldini interviews with staff, documented in "Suffer the Little Children" (1968) and subsequent reflections on the documentary's production.
[11] Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. "Report on Staffing Levels at State Institutions for the Mentally Deficient." 1946.
[12] Pennsylvania State Archives. "Pennhurst State School and Hospital Records, 1903-1987." Documentation of classification and segregation systems.
[13] Testimony in Halderman v. Pennhurst regarding family separation and lack of awareness of conditions.
[14] "Medicine: Unequal Care." Time Magazine. 1981. Description of Pennhurst conditions in the 1980s.
[15] "Nine Indicted in Pennhurst Abuse Case." The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1983. Criminal charges against staff members.
[16] Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare records. 1968-1969. Documentation of $21 million allocation following exposé.
[17] "Antiquity Echoes: Pennhurst - The Shame of Pennsylvania." February 2013. Description of classification system and eugenics ideology.