Fairfield State Hospital

Fairfield State Hospital (also known as Fairfield Hills State Hospital or Fairfield Hills) was a psychiatric hospital in Newtown, Connecticut, which operated from 1931 until 1995. At its peak, the hospital housed over 4,000 patients. The entire facility was owned and operated by the State of Connecticut Department of Mental Health. The facility is just southeast of the center of Newtown. During its operation, treatments at Fairfield Hills included hydrotherapy, use of the drugs metrazol and insulin in shock therapy, patient seclusion, electric shock therapy, treatment of alcoholism, and frontal lobotomy. In the first year that psychosurgery was performed at Fairfield Hills over 100 patients were treated. A majority of the staff and utility buildings, along with all of the patient buildings were connected by a series of concrete tunnels. These tunnels were mostly used to move patients and equipment between the buildings, especially during the winter months and on bad weather days. Doctors, nurses, and other various workers also used the tunnels, and when required, even corpses were transported through them to the on-campus morgue. Due to the increasing safety concerns, illegal trespassing, and vandalism to buildings by parties attempting to gain access to the tunnels, the tunnels were sealed by the Town of Newtown in 2009. All access ways leading to the tunnels were welded and / or boarded shut. During demolition of certain buildings, to pave way for a recreation center, some tunnels were filled in to level the ground. Several film and television productions have used the facility as a set. The film Man to Man was shot in Kent House in the late 1950s. The 1996 feature film Sleepers used the hospital as a setting. Actors on location included Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt, and Kevin Bacon. Several scenes used local boys as extras. The film adaptation of The Madman's Tale was to be filmed between October 26, 2007 and January 8, 2008. Due to complications with the cast, production was stopped before anything was filmed on location. Most infamously, An episode of MTV's Fear was shot at the hospital, its identity concealed from the participants as "St. Albans Hospital for the Criminally Ill".