I still get a chill down my spine when I think of that place. For the people who don't know what I'm talking about, Elan 4 was an old Tuberclouces Asylum that Elan transferred into a house. The thing I remember most about it was the "cells" they had, to put people in when they were acting out. It was the kind of place scary movies are made of. Unfortunatly, was sent up there a few times to PO or shotgun the trip. The people being brought there were either handcuffed or nylon tied. The ironic thing was most people going there were from Elan 7. Not Elan 8 or 5. In my own mind, there was a large discrepency on how the differant socio-economic classes were treated at Elan. Enuff of that, back to the subject. Elan 4 was just one big spooky place, electric doors to get in or out and upstairs where the had the cells, made me think... How differant is this then jail? It seems to me, they just wanted to wharehouse as many people as they could, with the least amount of trouble ::armed:: I have found that the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it
--Harry S. Truman
Elan 4 was a lock down facility, with a electric lock switch controlled in the staff office. The mens and womens dorms were upstairs. I don't remember any cells being upstairs on either floor.
I worked there for 14 months from 10/76 till 2/78 with Peter McCann Director, Rick Rosenhaus Assistant Director, Larry Smaller, Steve Smith and myself as staff.
No one back then came handcuffed or nylon tied, just had some oversized residents along for the ride.
Their were rooms for folks that were psychotic and had no business being at Elan, that were separated from the population for fear of violent injury to other residents. This was sickening to witness. Several of us kept asking why are we getting these people let alone anyone else.
danny
