INTRODUCTION I have been asked to tell you what conditions were like at Bryce, Partlow, and Searcy Hospitals during the years leading to Wyatt v. Stickney, the landmark federal court ruling which set standards for the care of the mentally ill and mentally retarded in Alabama and nationwide. I am not writing about the research of others. This paper is not meant to be an academic exercise. I am simply trying as best I can to describe this state, its institutions, and the madness of its politics as I have experienced it.
