A separate facility for the criminally insane came in 1937 when the Public Works Administration constructed the "Correctional Psychopathic Hospital"--renamed the Biggs Center, for a former superintendent. The facility's nine wards housed nearly 300 patients and included a hydrotherapeutic unit and medical clinic. Initially, emphasis in the state's only maximum security unit focused on security measures and custodial care. As court decisions determined that the criminally insane had the right to treatment, the 1960s saw a more progressive policy implemented at Biggs. This included occupational therapy, educational classes, and organized activities designed for resocialization of the patients into their community. Therapists, chaplains, and psychiatric social workers joined staff attendants in working with patients.
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