Leros Psychiatric Hospital
- 16 years ago
Leros "Psychiatric Hospital". Filmed in 1995 by achilleasv.
The Asylum of Leros (Colony of Mentally Ill) was established in 1959, taking over the military installations left on the Greek island by the Italians from the Second World War.
The asylum grew rapidly as "difficult" patients were shipped to Leros and by the 1980s as many as 4,000 patients were held there.
Political prisoners had also been incarcerated there, during the military dictatorship in Greece (Greek junta 1967-1974).
The staff were not doctors or nurses and had no medical training. They were local islanders and were used as guards. The inmates were systematically beaten, even tortured and crushed of whatever sensibilities they once had.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7-WBh3VW5Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3IC-Kbc-1c
In the 80s Leros' asylum has received significant journalistic attention.
In September of 1989, the London Observer published details of horrific conditions at the Leros asylum, describing it a "concentration camp".
In 1990 the BBC filmed inside the asylum. The documentary "Island of Outcasts" (Channel 4) brought attention to these horrendous human rights abuses.
http://www.filmandsound.ac.uk/collections/records/0006-0000-1123-0000-0-0000-0000-0.html
As Leros' conditions generally mirror those of the nation's other public mental hospitals, the last twenty years the psychiatric care system in Greece is undergoing a transformation of its service network, propelled to a great extent by recommendations and funding from the European Union. The new direction is toward deinstitutionalisation and a community-care approach.
However, twenty years since the beginning of the psychiatric reform in Greece, there is a threat for people with mental health problems to return in public mental hospitals due to severe financial problems of Non Governmental Organisations (which operate the majority of rehabilitation units)
as the Greek Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity is unable to correspond to its obligations.
The Asylum of Leros (Colony of Mentally Ill) was established in 1959, taking over the military installations left on the Greek island by the Italians from the Second World War.
The asylum grew rapidly as "difficult" patients were shipped to Leros and by the 1980s as many as 4,000 patients were held there.
Political prisoners had also been incarcerated there, during the military dictatorship in Greece (Greek junta 1967-1974).
The staff were not doctors or nurses and had no medical training. They were local islanders and were used as guards. The inmates were systematically beaten, even tortured and crushed of whatever sensibilities they once had.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7-WBh3VW5Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3IC-Kbc-1c
In the 80s Leros' asylum has received significant journalistic attention.
In September of 1989, the London Observer published details of horrific conditions at the Leros asylum, describing it a "concentration camp".
In 1990 the BBC filmed inside the asylum. The documentary "Island of Outcasts" (Channel 4) brought attention to these horrendous human rights abuses.
http://www.filmandsound.ac.uk/collections/records/0006-0000-1123-0000-0-0000-0000-0.html
As Leros' conditions generally mirror those of the nation's other public mental hospitals, the last twenty years the psychiatric care system in Greece is undergoing a transformation of its service network, propelled to a great extent by recommendations and funding from the European Union. The new direction is toward deinstitutionalisation and a community-care approach.
However, twenty years since the beginning of the psychiatric reform in Greece, there is a threat for people with mental health problems to return in public mental hospitals due to severe financial problems of Non Governmental Organisations (which operate the majority of rehabilitation units)
as the Greek Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity is unable to correspond to its obligations.