Massachusetts Unseals Records of Abuse of Disabled People in State Institutions

"Our estimate is that we've opened more than 10 million records with this law. The argument is that family members have a right to see that information, know it, and safeguard it. And eventually the public does as well, so that it can understand the enormous atrocity that has occurred."

"Massachusetts operated more than two dozen schools, hospitals, and other residential facilities where individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities and others labeled 'feeble-minded' were warehoused, beginning when the institution later known as the Fernald School opened in 1848. That institution was the first public school of its kind in the Americas, and it only closed in 2014."

Massachusetts operated more than two dozen residential facilities for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities beginning in 1848 with the Fernald School, the first public institution of its kind in the Americas. Residents experienced horrific abuse throughout generations, with their histories remaining largely hidden. A new Massachusetts state law passed in November 2025 makes these institutional records accessible for the first time, opening over 10 million documents. The legislation recognizes that family members have the right to access information about their relatives and that public understanding of these historical atrocities is essential. Documented abuse at institutions like Fernald, Pennhurst, and Willowbrook contributed to the deinstitutionalization movement beginning in the 1950s and 1960s.

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