Behind the Gates of Gomorrah

Note: This second hand book is in mostly good condition.  The only thing wrong with it really is that the outer edges of the pages have foxing.  It appears to be unread, just old.

Psychiatrist Stephen Seager was no stranger to locked psych wards when he accepted a job at California's Gorman State Hospital, known locally as "Gomorrah." However, nothing could have prepared him for what he encountered upon stepping through its gates—a triple sally port behind twenty-foot walls topped with coils of razor wire. Gorman State is one of the nation's largest forensic mental hospitals, dedicated to treating the criminally insane. Unit C, where Seager was assigned, was reserved for the "bad actors," the mass murderers, serial killers, and real-life Hannibal Lecters of the world.

Against a backdrop of surreal beauty—a campus-like setting where peacocks strolled the well-kept lawns—lies a place of remarkable violence. In this volatile environment, a small staff of clinicians manage a population of prison-hardened ex-cons. Lone therapists lead sharing circles with psychopaths, homemade weapons and contraband circulate freely, and patients and physicians often measure their lives by how fast they can run.

Behind the Gates of Gomorrah offers an eye-opening look inside a facility to which few people have ever had access. Honest, reflective, and at times darkly funny, Seager's gripping account of his experiences at Gorman State Hospital provides an extraordinary insight into a unique and terrifying world, inhabited by figures from our nightmares.