Another astonishing article from P W Robinson. Brutality honest, direct, and illustrative of the struggle that we homeless face.

As a young child with undiagnosed Autism Spectrum Disorder, I spent a year in a locked-down inpatient facility that used tortures such as lie-detector tests, forced standing and two interesting little inventions called the “Plan” and the “Prescription Room.” The “Plan” was where you were taped to a chair for hours after being given a powerful dose of Thorazine, a major tranquilizer. If you could stay awake and not piss yourself they would allow you the “mercy” of being allowed to go back into the room where you were forced to stand for 50 minutes an hour for 9 hours a day. Every time you dozed off or pissed yourself, they slapped you awake and added another hour.

The “Prescription Room” was a closet-sized room with a drain in the floor and a slot in the door where you were given water and bread. 9 sunlamps were fixed in cages on the ceiling and the paint was reflective gloss-white. You had to stay in there for a set number of hours without screaming or crying and then they would “Maybe” let you out to go back and stand.

After trying to escape, I spent 3 days in the “Prescription Room,” where I was burned over 90 percent of my body (you were stripped prior, so you could feel the burn) and my eyes swelled shut.

Needless to say, I wasn’t cured, but I did pick up one hell of a case of PTSD.