Fractured Minds: Inside an Iraqi Mental Asylum

A blind man stands in the doorway at Rashad Psychitric Hospital outside of Baghdad. The patients live in desperate and primitive living conditions in the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Many of the patients claim to have been victims of torture under Saddam's regime.
   
Patients at Rashad psychiatric hospital walk around one of the men's wards. The hospital, which is outside of Baghdad, was looted during the war. Of the 1050 patients only 350 are left. The hospital was run by the government but is now run by a Shiite charitable organization.
   
Patients at Rashad psychiatric hospital recieve psychiatric medicine from the staff. The men receive food, water and some psychiatric medication but little more.
     
  
A patient lies on the floor at Rashad psychiatric hospital as other patients file past. Many of the men are extremely mentally ill and a in nearly catatonic state.
   
A patient receives a shave from a hospital staff member while another patient waits behind the bars. The hospital was run by the government but is now run by a Shiite charitable organization. The provide care with few resources under desperate conditions after the fall of Saddam's government.
   
A patient smokes in his room at Rashad psychiatric hospital. The patients have little to do and spend their days sleeping and smoking cigarettes.
     
  
An agitated mental patient cries at Rashad psychiatric hospital recieve psychiatric Friday.
   
As evening comes a mental patient sits on his bed at Rashad psychiatric hospital Wednesday.