Listen to the audio file and read the full transcript of an oral history interview with a former patient of Central State Hospital.
Full Audio Interview–J.C.:2/21/20
“They put her in Central State. She didn’t get the death penalty. Now, that’s all I knew about Central State, was the fact that she was up there. And everyone—said, that’s gotta be the worst place that you can go. And I can remember people sayin’, you know, ‘that’s a hell hole.’ But I had no idea, I just know they sent Anjette Lyles up there, and she…she got life. And she was up there under custody, and there was some jokes that went around that she was workin’ in the kitchen, so you know, and I said ‘Oh God! No way could she be workin’ in the kitchen after poisoning her whole family!’”
–Jimmy Cannon, Jr., on infamous Macon serial killer Anjette Lyles, who was committed to Central State Hospital in 1958, after poisoning and killing 4 family members
Full Transcript of Interview with J.C.
“I couldn’t be still. I couldn’t concentrate. I’d actually run out of the gym and the coach—he didn’t know what was goin’ on. I didn’t know what was goin’ on, I thought I was just nuts. And, that happened a lot and now I know they call that a—I was breathin’ heavy, my heart felt like it was comin’ out of my chest—now I know that was an anxiety attack, it was a panic attack…I had no idea, but I just thought, I just knew there was somethin’ wrong with me. And, I was about fourteen at that time. And that’s when I first started having mental problems—was…when I was about fourteen.”
Jimmy Cannon, Jr., on his first memories of struggling with mental health
“We had three children… And that’s when my mental problems just cut off, and I think it was because I had to grow up and be a man, overnight. I had responsibilities. I didn’t have time to be mentally ill. That came back later, when I relapsed and had another bout with depression, which just got worse and worse. And the more alcohol I drank and the more drugs I did, the worse the depression got.”
–Jimmy Cannon, Jr., on recovery and relapse with mental illness
“That was my first introduction to Central State Hospital—that it was a very bad place—and, it was hellish, and you did not wanna go there.”
“Of course they had an area for shock treatments. Thank God I didn’t get that way. But—shock treatments were around. You might think that, that was—outdated, but they were available. Yeah, I feared that…I said, oh my God, I don’t wanna have that, I’ve heard so many things about it, you know.”
–Jimmy cannon, Jr.
former patient at central state hospital
“We averaged four fights…a day. Some of ‘em were bad. They would take their toothbrushes and take their Gillette shavers, and they would make a shank with a razor on it. And one particular mornin’ I was sittin’ there eatin’ breakfast and—one of the inmates jumped over the table and slashed one of ‘em in the face, and of course blood went everywhere. I was tryin’ to get out of the way, and then there were other times where we was standin’ in line for medication, and that was the thing every day, you know, they say “meds! Medication! Everybody get in line.” Somebody behind me went off on this other guy, I was caught right in the middle of that. Like I say, we averaged four fights a day. It was a very dangerous place to be.”
-Jimmy Cannon, Jr., on the violence within Central State Hospital
Okay—these two inmates—they had a system. They knew two of the girls down below. They took bedsheets and tied ‘em together, and there was a bottom—the bottom of these bars was about three inches. Or four inches, I would say. And they would lower a sheet down that they had made, and they paid the guard off to turn his head and not look. And inside the sheet they made a little basket, and the girls would put liquor, drugs, cigarettes, and then the guys would bring it up, and drag it up.”
–Jimmy Cannon, Jr., on how Csh patients “beat the system”
“[You] Could go to classes…it was sorta optional, ya know…If you went, it helped you to—they put your name on a sheet that you showed up, that you showed attention, you know, you were attentive—that you were asking questions. And, we had two of those classes a day, and I never missed ‘em because I figured, I heard that if you participated in those classes and you did good, and you got a good score—it would help to—get you out sooner. Get you out of the door sooner, so—I was in there nine days. Longest nine days of my life. But I know I needed to be there. Um—it was a bad thing, but yet it was a good thing. Yeah, I reckon you can say that.”
–Jimmy Cannon, Jr., on his nine day stay in Central State Hospital in 2002
“Doctor Barton—he saw my symptoms and he knew that it wasn’t drugs and alcohol, that I was clinically depressed—because of the suicide attempt, because of the way I acted, I mean he sat down and talked to me for an hour. He was really good.”
JImmy Cannon, jr, on his doctor at central state hospital
“I’d go down the hall, to that classroom—and they would be…seventy-five to a hundred patients, and—we were mixed up then, during the classes—we had the women with the men. And, of course, you had some things goin’ on underneath the steps at the end of the hall—okay, with these guys and gals, they would get together, you know, and—if they got caught, it’d be really serious trouble, but—I saw all that. I mean, you had anything and everything that you wanted to see go on, you could see at Central State.”
Jimmy Cannon, Jr., on the overcrowing and oversight at Central State Hospital
Echoes of Central State Hospital 