The New York State Office of Mental Health put on a fabulous “show” at the Willard State Hospital Cemetery on Saturday, May 16, 2015, by allowing ONE man, Lawrence Mocha, an inmate and hospital grave digger, who died 47 years ago, to be remembered with a beautiful ceremony that included a plaque displaying HIS NAME, DATE OF BIRTH, DATE OF DEATH, AND LOCATION OF GRAVE! OH MY GOD! IS HELL FREEZING OVER?
Plaque Honoring Lawrence Mocha
Mr. Mocha was ONE OUT OF 5,776 buried at this cemetery. This ceremony was hosted by the Willard Cemetery Memorial Project. The only reason that the OMH let this ceremony take place was because they were humiliated by an article published in The New York Times by journalist, Dan Barry. Why wasn’t Mr. Barry fined $10,000 by the OMH as they so often threaten? Might they be afraid of The Times and its readership of 1 million people a day?
It has been my belief that the New York State Legislature should pass into law two bills:
- New York State needs a law that would release the names, dates of birth and death, and location of graves of ALL deceased patients of ALL 21 former New York State Hospitals and 5 Custodial Institutions which SHOULD BE AVAILABLE AND ACCESSABLE ON THE OMH Website as a searchable data base. All these cemeteries are INACTIVE! There is no reason why anyone has to wait 50 years to be remembered!
AND
- An additional law that would release to descendants the medical records and photographs of loved ones who were incarcerated at these institutions 50 years after the patients’ death with the same wording as provided by the new Federal HIPAA legislation of March 2013.
The New York State Office of Mental Health WILL NOT ALLOW the burial ledger of the Willard State Hospital or any New York State Hospital or Custodial Institution to be released to the public. The names of the deceased and the location of their graves must be made available to the public in order that people may find their ancestor, visit the grave, and purchase a headstone if they wish to do so. Withholding their names is unacceptable, dehumanizing, and insulting; it only serves to feed the stigma associated with mental illness. Many of these former patients died over one hundred years ago; they are not under the care of the Office of Mental Health or any government agency. It is important and necessary for a new law in order to restore the dignity and personhood of the THOUSANDS of people who were incarcerated and died at former New York State Hospitals (formerly Insane Asylums), and Custodial Institutions. When the bodies of the inmates/patients were not claimed by family members, they were buried in anonymous, unmarked graves on state owned and county cemeteries. They deserve to have their names remembered and available to the public in a searchable database located at The New York State Office of Mental Health Website.
The NYS Office of Mental Health always sites “Protected Health Information” for their reason as to why they cannot release patient names. Let’s start at the beginning by defining the following: What Is Personal Identifiable Information? AND, What Is Protected Health Information? If you take the time to read these two definitions, you will CLEARLY SEE THAT THESE LAWS AND PROVISIONS WERE WRITTEN FOR THE LIVING, NOT FOR THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN DEAD LONGER THAN 50 YEARS!!!! A BURIAL PERMIT, which can be obtained in every County Clerk’s Office in the State of New York, is not covered under any state or federal privacy law. Old Books, Burial Ledgers, and The United States Federal and State Censuses which are released after 70 years, are not covered under any law that I know of. Birth, Death, and Marriage Certificates can be obtained from the NYS Vital Records page. 145 years have passed since the first person was buried at the Willard Asylum in 1870. It is time to let those nameless souls rest in peace and be remembered!
Anyone can sit at the County Clerk’s Office and sort through all the records pertaining to any state hospital or custodial institution but the information contained in the burial ledgers would be much more accurate and less time consuming. An inscribed headstone or a name on a searchable database would not positively identify a specific individual UNLESS it stated the city, county, state, country of origin, parents, spouses, sibling names, etc. And even then, you would have to claim that person as your ancestor and notify the media that he or she was diagnosed with a mental illness in order for you and your family to be “stigmatized.” Come On! This Is The Twenty-First Century! Privacy ends at death and according to the new HIPAA Law, Confidentiality Of Medical Records only lasts for 50 years after death of an individual.
The real reason why the OMH does not want to publish this information is simple. They don’t want you to know how badly they’ve screwed up!
EXAMPLES:
I have been told over and over again that one of the cemeteries on the former KINGS PARK STATE HOSPITAL property is being used as a youth baseball field. This had to have been approved by the NYSOMH. As far as I know, the bodies were never moved. I wonder how the families of patients buried at this site would feel if they knew that their loved one’s grave was being disrespected in this way? If this information is incorrect, I apologize.
What about all the VETERANS from the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam that are buried in these former NYS Hospital Cemeteries. Don’t they have a right to be remembered with a marker?
The NAMES of deceased patients buried at the former BINGHAMTON STATE HOSPITAL Cemetery are already online in a searchable database. The burial ledger was found in the trash. AND, in 2014, Glass Photo Negatives of Patients were discovered in a pile of pigeon poop at Binghamton’s Historic Asylum. If these old photographs and burial ledgers are so important, then why were they found in the trash?
At the former MIDDLETOWN HOMEOPATHIC STATE HOSPITAL patient records were left in boxes which were photographed and put on the internet. Looks like the staff left in a hurry! These facilities closed in 1995.
Someone from the former GOWANDA STATE HOSPITAL gave the burial ledger to The Museum of disABILITY History for safe keeping. Thank God! The names are on display at the museum.
Why is the largest mental health facility in New York State the Prison at Riker’s Island?
If medical records for the recently departed are protected, then why was Sally Green’s Anonymous Burial and a detailed story printed all over the news in February 2012?
Lastly, and most importantly, The OMH would have to release 21 State Hospital and 5 Custodial Institution Burial Ledgers. Do they even have them?
The list of these former New York State Hospitals includes but is not limited to: Binghamton, Buffalo, Central Islip, Creedmoor, Dannemora, Edgewood, Gowanda, Hudson River, Kings Park, Long Island, Manhattan, Marcy, Matteawan, Middletown, Mohansic, Pilgrim, Rochester, St. Lawrence, Syracuse, Utica, and Willard.
The Feeble-Minded (Intellectual Disabilities) and Epileptic Custodial Institutions of New York includes but is not limited to: Craig Colony for Epileptics, Letchworth Village for Epileptics & Intellectually Disabled, Newark State School for Intellectually Disabled Women, Rome State School for Intellectually Disabled Adults & Children, and Syracuse State School for Intellectually Disabled Children.
Please check out and share the NAMES page.
More Reading:
The Inmates of Willard 1870 to 1900 / A Genealogy Resource 
I will probably not live long enough to find out why my Grandpa spent from 1926 to 1951 when he died, at Creedmoor, they have the information, lie and say they don’t, and say I can’t get it with all the proof I have given them to say who I am. There are no other living relatives today and it breaks my heart to have never been able to find anything out. Unfortunately as time goes by there will be fewer and fewer who will search and want to know and make things right… Seems to me that there must have been a lot of WRONG going on with those places that they have to hide it so well and for so long. Probably because the people who did the wrong things are still alive and NYC laws are there to protect the guilty of the crimes they committed against the inmates at these institutions . Makes me sick. but thank goodness this organization is trying to get things done to right the terrible wrongs of the past…. God Bless
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Don’t give up hope yet, Judith!
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AMEN and GOD BLESS THEM WHOEVER THEY ARE , GOD KNOWS WHAT “”TRULY”” HAPPENED and HE SAYS QUOTE , UNQUOTE that “”EVERYTHING done in the DARK “”WILL”” be BROUGHT to LIGHT 🕯️🕯️ 🕯️🕯️****JESUS SAVES****
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So many families have emailed me saying how grateful they are to finally find their relative in the Gowanda State Hospital Cemetery. One person was looking for 40 yrs & finally found him there. Now I am trying to find where the TB patients from J N Adam Hospital were buried & have run into so many road blocks, again. I can’t understand how the State of NY can deny families the right to know where there relatives are buried. Most families have had a relative in a State Facility and do not have a problem with that. They just want to know where they are buried. or what happened to them. Who made the State of NY God, these records should be available ! !
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Reblogged this on Port City Paranormal ® and commented:
When will we know the names of the Dead?
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Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
TALK ABOUT THE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE!!!!
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I am in the same “boat” Judith. I attended the Lawrence Mocha Dedication and waited patiently to speak with Mr. Allen afterward as he said that his office would help relatives find their ancestors. I introduced myself and he motioned to his assistant Anthony Ciccarino to give me his business card and he would help me out. After 2- months of e-mails and phone calls and doing exactly as Anthony told me to do—gather all my birth, death, marriage certificates to prove my lineage to my Great-Great Grandmother and send him copies—Nothing. I expressed my interest in finding her grave, told him I would be willing to pay and put up some kind of Memorial on her site. I wrote a letter to express the same. I even sent copies of the 1900 and 1905 Census showing her as an Inmate at Willard for those years. NOTHING. No return phone calls or e-mails. I can only hope the law will change and these simple requests from all of us will be answered soon.
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Hi Sharon, This is Lin Stuhler. I’M NOT SURPRISED!! The Office of Mental Health and Mr. Allen are full of BS! I don’t think they have any intention of releasing this info unless forced to do so. I feel bad for you and the thousands of others who are being denied this basic information on their ancestors. Try calling Senator Joe Robach’s office or your state senator.
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Hello Lin,
I am wondering if there will be a tour of the Hospital this year after last years Mob Scene. I’ve searched a little on Google, but cannot find any information. Do you know if there will be one ? Send your answer to my regular e-mail: shar55tb@rochester.rr.com
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Hi Sharon, I just found an article that states there will be NO TOUR this year, (Listed under related links and current news). YOU CAN VISIT THE CEMETERY ANY TIME IF YOU SO DESIRE!
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All I knew as a child was that my great aunt was in an insane asylum in NY. Her name was Mary ‘Mamie” Menager and she was born in 1888. No one in the family ever knew what happened to her.
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I’m sorry! I’m sure if you were willing to do the research, you could find her.
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My great grandmother was an inmate at Ovid in 1940 or earlier. Not much is known about her and I certainly don’t know when she died but I would like to find out more. I have no idea how to go about doing that. I don’t know if someone can help me get any information?
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https://www.co.seneca.ny.us
Gail Snyder Ovid Historian
and the census
I found my Great-Great Grandmother on the 1900 Census as an inmate
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I have them in PDF files on my Names & Census Info page. Just click the RED links! https://inmatesofwillard.com/names-census-info/
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This is so sad. My son was released just yesterday from Greater Binghamton Health Center (formerly Binghamton Psychiatric Center) after a 2 1/2 months hospitalization. He has had a severe mental illness for the past 20 years, so this is not his first time there. I often think about all the people who were patients there over the years and look at the grounds on Google maps, wondering where the cemetery was hidden. There is still some abuse at the hospital, and I think if it’s like that now, how terrible it must have been for patients in the past. 😥
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I have been trying to locate information regarding my Aunt who was sent to the Rome State School. She apparently was developmentally challenged. My father went there to visit her there before she died there and was very upset by the way she was treated. She had apparently refused to allow the fire department into there farm home and it was on fire. Her parents had told her not to let strangers in the house. They determined she was a danger to herself and others. Thusly she was court ordered there. Beatrice wasyy about 25 at the tome. That was about 1930 She developed TB of the bone and died.I can not find anything any where about where she is barred. As a result of his visit there he became a psychiatric nursed and worked hard to bring about change in the treatment of the mentality challenged . Sure wish I could find out what happened to her remains. Her name was Beatrice Ross and she was born in 1908.
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Makes me sick for such bullshit cover-ups lies to make people think they fucking cared
What about all the others whose voices were never heard? All about big shots that never spent any time working and teaching any of these people. Go suck an egg!
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Hi, I’m appalled by the State of NY and their holding all these patients names. They did not want to talk to me or email me back and lied about the death records being lost. They are in Rochester, I found out by a person that took them up there! Check “Find a Grave” & the Gowanda State Hospital is there with over 2000 burials with the Gowanda Psychiatric Memorial that has 500 names now. It’s sad that these patients had to endure their illness, endure the hospital conditions, only to be buried with a number. Shame on NY State Mental Health for dehumanizing these patients more and not releasing their names.
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Rochester State Hospital records are held at the U of R library. They have a ton of records, documents and photos. No one is allowed to see them except students who go to school there. It’s a real shame! I have some names from The Monroe County Insane Asylum which I transcribed years ago, on one of my posts. Put “Rochester” “Monroe County” in the search bar and they should pop up. Thank you! -Lin
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