To be different is to be feared and shunned. In Louisiana, those who were different were often locked away, especially if their families were not wealthy enough to provide care for them. People with mental health issues were put in prison, as were those with intellectual disabilities, epileptics, and the senile. They were also dumped at Charity Hospital, and then placed in mental institutions once those were created. When the institutions were full, they were placed in jails, prisons, and workhouses until space might open.
Living conditions were often brutal and primitive. Inmates were often poorly fed, clothed, and housed. Beatings and physical restraints were common. City governments and the state legislature never provided enough funding. Politicians charged with managing mental institutions took the opportunity to reward themselves to the detriment of the institutions and the patients.
Police code : or collection of the ordinances of police made by the city council of New Orleans ; to which is prefixed the act for incorporating said city with the acts suplementary thereto, 1808
