Behind the Gates of Gomorrah: A Year with the Criminally Insane

When psychiatrist Seager (Street Crazy : America’s Mental Health Tragedy) accepted a job at Gordon State Hospital, he was no stranger to chaos—he’d already worked as an ER doctor for 11 years—but nothing could prepare him for the levels of violence and discord he’d soon encounter at this California facility dedicated to serving a motley crew of psychopaths, sexual predators, vicious convicts, and the mentally ill. In this riveting account, he chronicles his year on the job, which begins with a horrific assault on his first day, slowly uncovering a twisted ecosystem in which inmates extort money from staff and patients alike, in which a vicious convict will attempt to kill a fellow patient one day, only to administer CPR to save the life of another, and Santa bellows obscenities and is dragged kicking and screaming from a Christmas party. This day-to-day tedium coupled with the ever-present threat of violence adds tension to Seager’s story, but when the author attempts to tie in a critique of the state and local government’s approach to dealing with mental illness, the narrative falls flat. Seager’s attempt to tell so many stories—his own, his patients, and the system’s—only dilutes his tale. [em](Sept.) [/em]