Ward 22
In the East building, there was a section named Ward 22. Built in 1906, it was an isolation ward designed to act as a punishment facility for patients of the Fernald School. Although the punishment section of the building was a dreaded place to be, people who didn’t have a place to stay would often find themselves living in other parts of the East building (Ward 22 was referred to using many names, including East Building, East Dowling Hall, Ward 22, and Dowling Hall). In addition to those who elected to stay in the East Building, kids who were able to realize the inhumane treatment they were receiving at the school were naturally more rebellious, and were therefore placed in the punishment facility more frequently. They would find themselves locked in an isolation room and strapped to a bed where they were held for days. Ward 22 had six isolation cells which Fernald residents referred to as the jail. Gordon Shattuck, who was a patient at Fernald, was sent to Ward 22. Gordon described his isolation room at Ward 22 as “a little room with bare walls and an old ratty mattress and a can to piss in,’.... ‘There were no windows except for a little pane of glass in the door so people could look in and check to see what you were doing.” Ward 22 was truly a place with a mix of horror and violence, and refuge, and for that reason alone deserves to have its history remembered.
Fernald residents suffered many inhumane punishments and treatments. These treatments included daily harassment, both physical and mental, as well as experiments that were conducted on kids.
Between 1946 and 1953, children at Fernald were being used for nuclear medicine research by Harvard and MIT. In a group called the “Science Club,” children including Fred Boyce and Joey Almeida were given radioactive foods. In the Science Club, members received more food, attended Red Sox games, and received many other privileges, but members and guardians were unaware of the existence of radioactive substances in the food, used to track absorption of calcium and iron. Consent was not given by parents or children, as seen in Dr. Benda’s letter in 1949.
Dr. Clemens Benda came from Germany in 1930s to America. He was the medical director of the Fernald state school from 1940s- 1960s. During his time at Fernald he and MIT developed the “Science Club” (from Book against their will)
Dr. Benda’s letter
CITATIONS
Rep. No. Fernald Trustees Report (1905).
Written by Walter E. Fernald. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxxHIf1i1dAscVJQWTQwNFA2Zk0
"44 Years Later, the Truth About the 'Science Club'" The New York Times. 1993. Accessed November 22, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/31/us/44-years-later-the-truth-about-the-science-club.html.
Https://www.facebook.com/priceonomics. "The Dark Secret of the MIT Science Club for Children." Priceonomics. Accessed November 22, 2016. https://priceonomics.com/the-mit-science-club-for-disabled-children/.
Hornblum, Allen M., Judith L. Newman, and Gregory J. Dober. Against Their Will: The Secret History of Medical Experimentation on Children in Cold War America. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
D'Antonio, Michael. The State Boys Rebellion. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004
Leung, Rebecca. "America's Deep, Dark Secret." CBSNews. April 29, 2004. Accessed November 22, 2016. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/americas-deep-dark-secret/.
"Chapter 7: The Studies at the Fernald School." Chapter 7: The Studies at the Fernald School. Accessed November 22, 2016. http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/research/reports/ACHRE/chap7_5.html./
