Begun as a pork-barrel project by the federal government in the early 1900s, the Canton Asylum for InsaneIndians quickly became a dumping ground for inconvenient Indians. The federal institution in Canton, South Dakota, deprived many Native patients of their freedom without genuine cause, often requiring only the signature of a reservation agent. Only nine Native patients in the asylum s history were committed by court order. Without interpreters, mental evaluations, or therapeutic programs, few patients recovered. But who cared about Indians and what went on in South Dakota?

Begun as a pork-barrel project by the federal government in the early 1900s, the Canton Asylum for InsaneIndians quickly became a dumping ground for i...