Photo: "Inside An Isolation Cell"

Ever wonder what it would be like to be in seclusion, inside a psychiatric hospital? This room is designed as an isolation cell for patient's that suffered from the more problematic mental diseases or ones that rendered them dangerous to themselves or others. 

The windows in the door gave the nurses a way to check on the patients. The top window gave a view of the full room and the lower window would give a nurse eyes on a patient who was hiding against the door. 

Sadly, this asylum has since been demolished...

Photo: "Seclusion Doors"

 
 

These seclusion rooms are located on the first floor, basement level, of the Polk Building, or K Building, at the Western State Hospital in Tennessee. These rooms contained two doors, the first has an open window with a metal covering. The second is a solid wood door with a glass window. This allowed nurses to check on patients but kept the noise to a minimum.