The Other Side of Hell

Just making a point - the hospital mentioned in other reviews and about which Wendell Rawls Jr. wrote is Farview, not Fairview.

This hospital is still in existence today though it is no longer known as Farview (except for us locals who will always call it that.) It is SCI Waymart.

There appears to be some controversy over whether this film was about Farview or some other mental hospital. I wish someone could clear it up.

I drive by Farview often. It is a creepy looking place now - I can't imagine how ominous and awful it must have looked 40 or 50 years ago when these atrocities were still going on.

I have seen on Amazon in reviews about The Book, the shoe leather treatment, that commentators Believe that Farview staff were convicted of Murder and that the Hospital was shut down. No one was ever Convicted of a Crime although some were Charged. Farview continued to Operate in Pennsylvania as a hospital for the Criminally Insane (a Forensic facility) until it was Given to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections in the 1990s to become SCI Waymart. It continued to Function with about 200 beds as a facility for Mentally Ill DOC inmates. Prior to that it served DOC inmates but also took inmates from County Jails who were considered "too Dangerous" for the Forensic facilities at Norristown, Mayview, and Franklin. Often these people had been Charged but not Convicted or sentenced, ie: unable to stand trial by reason of insanity (incompetent). But it also took Sentenced county prisoners who were Mentally Ill. The problem at Farview was essentially that it was Controlled by the Security Officials (law enforcement), not the Treatment Staff, and throughout its life as a State Hospital this conflict for Control raged. Technically ,all the prisoners (patients) were Involved with the Criminal Justice system, Sometimes as today, for Criminalized minor manifestations of their Mental Illnesses. Like most State Hospitals it probably had good wards, and Bad Wards where the atrocities took Place. The books, Cold Storage and The Shoe Leather Treatment, plus the movie The Other Side Of Hell, helped expose these conditions hidden from the Public's View. Now we need to start Looking into State Prisons and county jails where the Criminalized Mentally Ill are being warehoused without any claim to Providing Treatment or a medical model of Staffing. Farview is happening Everywhere.

Kayderr I read your review and although I never saw the movie, my father worked in Farview in the late 50s early 60s. Unfortunately, he passed in 1995, however, I do know that he had made friends with alot of patients/inmates. One man painted a beautiful portrait of my sister from a snapshot photo. Another made him a frame, using wooden matchsticks, he also made my Dad a battleship out of matchsticks! Yet another made my mother a pocketbook out of soft pack empty cigarette packs. All items were of extraordinary quality. I'm sorry I cannot be of more help.

Never heard of this great movie, no doubt as it was a tv movie. Very long film but doesn't feel it, a great thoughtful watch. Not sure if title refers to what's playing out in his mind and then he enters a new kind of hell in institution. Very little humour but engrossing all the way. Arkin keeps u watching, one nudge away from going over the edge himself. I liked the warmth he shows other inmates at times, everyone deserves respect no matter how far gone they are. I've never understood why people are mean or brutal like this, but sadly it still goes on. Heads up for Magnum alum TJ I think, nice to see him. Glad I found this, big fan of prison type films. Highly recommend this movie. One little thing I found a bit fake, shoe-shining scenes looked very unreal, actors clearly not landing blows, but it was made for tv. A bit of a hidden gem all told.

I found this movie, The Other Side of Hell, on You Tube. My father was imprisoned at Farview Institution for the Criminally Insane from 1943 until he died in 1964. I had not known where my father was until 1970. I had always thought he was in a place where he had "a room," and only this past week had I learned about those events depicted in the movie. I have purchased "Cold Storage" and "The Shoe Leather Treatment." It was disheartening to say the least to learn that my father apparently was there during those events/years. He had not seen me since l943 and I am now 74 years old never having seen him after 1943.

I am trying to find out any information I can about him. Nothing to do with the dark side of the institution, that is all in the past, but just to know anything at all about him as a person. I have only this one fact: that he was an artist and a painting of his was displayed in the Superintendent's office.

I am grateful to the person who posted the movie, The Other Side of Hell, on You Tube. It was very revealing.