The Newberry State Hospital served the psychiatric needs for Michigan’s upper peninsula from 1895 to 1992. After deinstitutionalization, some of the property was adapted for use as the Newberry Correctional Facility, which opened in 1996. Much of the original asylum remains abandoned, however, and probably will be indefinitely.

In its early years, asylum patients were allowed to roam the grounds unconfined. That was before it was discovered patients were wandering away into the deep woods surrounding the town, sometimes found starved or frozen to death.

So the long corridors that now connect the buildings were built, containing the vast courtyard in a one-quarter mile square, still offering the more acute patients outside activity and nice views.

Patients and employees alike left their marks behind on the corridor walls. Once could spend hours just reading the half mile of graffiti.

A gurney marks the corridor entrance the R. G. Ferguson Hospital, which served the medical needs of patients.

Ferguson lobby. Until about five years ago, the prison used portions of this building for offices and training drills. Since the heat was turned off, the deterioration has accelerated.

Nature found its way into the children’s building, creeping across practically every surface.

This fire exit was unreal. A curving slide behind the doors would shoot escapees from the second floor to the ground outside. I imagine it would be rather fun for children.

These birds, by strange coincidence, flew into the same window, got trapped, and died in their own panes. Bad luck for anything avian.

Lastly, this is a through-a-window shot of the asylum theatre, which very regrettably couldn’t be accessed. You can see the backdrop from the last show. Upon leaving the site, I spotted a mother coyote and her pups entering this building’s basement, and the night before, the warden’s secretary was chased off the grounds by a black bear.