Posted by: Naaman
This school for naughty bad girls was opened in the 1930's and has undergone numerous renovations, re-namings, and loose re-purposings. It finally shut down when the last few bad girls survived a direct hit from a crazy tornado.
A lot of the old buildings have been razed leaving a certain emptiness to the sprawling facility. The once beautiful man-made swimming lake is filled with giant turtles and felled trees.
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Fascinating post and photos.
ReplyDeletewhere is this located?
ReplyDeleteOld Springville Road in Clay, AL 35048 Heading north it is the 1st right after Somersby Parkway.
DeleteThis is so amazing blog the hotel and all your information are very interesting.
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As a woman who spent her 17th and 18th birthday at Chalkville I witnessed more abuse, neglect, violence, and negligence in my time here than I have my entire life. I have seen girls who came into this place at 14 years old and wound up pregnant at the hands of the adult male guards. There were more cases of staph infection than headaches. They left a 15 year old in labor on the floor of a cell HANDCUFFED AND SHACKLED for 6 hours. If you spoke up you didn't get out. If you told your family you didn't see your family. If you refused to go to church you did get out. Some of these girls were in there simply because they needed guidance at home. The courts sent them here because it was supposed to help them and instead they got abused and mistreated. I have kept in touch with most if the girls I knew in there and 9 of them are in tutweiller or halfway houses today. Luckily for me i went there 2 times and managed to stay out of trouble as an adult but the girls who started being sent here from ages 12 and up were just screwed. They were institutionalized so young that they had no chance. This is litterally the only way of life they knew and now know. This wasn't a Republican or Democrat issue. It was a these girls don't matter issue. Half of these girls needed to be in rehab or mental health facilities and they were put in Chalkville with girls who had committed violent crimes. I was in there with a girl who RAPED her BABY STEPBROTHER and another one who ended up beating a girls face into a toilet until she killed her. Know what I did? Left home before I was 18. This place was evil incarnate and the girls who survived it are scarred for life.
ReplyDeleteI can relate I was there between 1999-2000 what my nightmares r made of
DeleteI was there April to December of 2000, they beat us and completely evil to us!
DeleteI was there in 93. they physically and mentally abused the boys as well.
DeleteWow. I am so sorry you had to endure these things. I was there in 72 and for most of us it was like a private school. We did not have guards. We had house mother's and kitchen matrons. Maybe I was lucky and had people that were kind and loving. They gave us guidance not abuse.
DeleteAs a female who stayed in this facility from 1995 until 1998, this was the worst possible "hell-p" any child could have ever went through. I escaped while there and stayed gone for a year. I watched all of my friends get raped multiple times. My best friend was having sex with the gate guard for cigarettes. They would through the girls with the least sense into the "Timeout room" and beat them if they breathed the wrong way. I was constantly a victim of abuse. Mr Brown, a guard who watched the halls, would grab me where I knew he wasn't suppose to. I was so insecure back then I mentioned it when they were questioning all of us, but I guess the only people who got paid were the ones who were friends with each other. I've spent my whole life dwelling on all of the horrible things I witnessed and went through myself there. God put his hand down on this place and spared the girls. I'm sure he was tired of the abuse too
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DeleteI lived in Clay my entire life and always heard horror stories of this place. I am so so sorry you girls had to endure that trauma, and at such a defining age in life. It seems like this place was once a sanctuary for girls to learn (back in the 40s) but at some point evil crept in and this became a place for vulnerable girls to be abused even more. Praying for all the girls who endured abuse at this place.
DeleteI spent a year in that hell hole got out in March 2000 thank u Lord
DeleteAre you still in Alabama? Any interest in making a video telling your part of the story about the place?
DeleteI was there in 1967&1968, stayed there 18 months.
ReplyDeleteDidn't like it then but never saw any abuse, as I've gotten older I realize it was the best thing that could have happened to me. I helped paint the ceiling tiles for the chapel. So sad it turned into a hell hole.
Thanks a lot for sharing this amazing knowledge with us. This site is fantastic. I always find great knowledge from it. Urban Explorer
ReplyDeleteI was there for 9 months in 2000. It was the worst 9 months of my life for sure
ReplyDeleteI would like to speak with those who were there if you have any interest in making a video with me. alabamaexplorer@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteHey, as a local (aka I live across the street from this place), I know a bit about it. I go up there a lot.
DeleteI was there 99-2000 Chickasaw
DeleteThat place was coed for about 30 years. I was in Alabama cottage in 93 for three months. that place was hell. they physically and mentally abused the boys as well
ReplyDeleteThe state should hang their heads in shame for allowing this place to remain open so long. It should have been closed at the first hint of child abuse. I did three months in Chalkville in 93, back then it was coed and it was called the Hit program. The staff lived up to that name "Hit". I witnessed first hand the physical abuse of boys housed there. Those metal doors also had pad locks on them. The first two rooms on the left were Timeout rooms they would make you strip off your uniform and put you in short shorts and lock you in. If you acted up in there they would beat you, lay you down in the floor and tie you up with Velcro restraints. I came out with plenty of scars on the inside. This place was what nightmares are made of. Glad to see that dump closed up and exposed for what it really was, "hell.”
ReplyDeleteI was here from age of 12 - 15. 1972-1975
DeleteI was beaten, raped, abused, tied to the wall and forced to work. This place was hell; but the same things were happening at home and on the run; this wasn’t as bad as home so I fought to stay here.
TIME OUT was my sanctuary. I didn’t mind being raped... I felt it’s going to happen anyway.. either at home, or at foster care or on the run... it may as well happen with someone that’s not related to you; some where you can get a shower and some food.
Anywhere but home... where racist were serial murderers. Anywhere but home... where he’d killed so many people.
This hell hole was a safe place for me. I was emancipated in 1976 and set free for real. This hell hole was less of a hell hole than I’d come from. I’m glad God knocked it down though. There were so many girls weren’t strong like me... I felt so sorry for them.
Now days I work helping people find there way. God is good.
I guess things changed really quick after I left in Aug.72. I never knew of anything like that happening. Guess God blessed me because I never personally experienced nor heard anything from the other girls. Through the years I have wondered about it and what became of some of the girls. I did drive up to the gate once with my daughter several yrs ago but didn't attempt to go in. Thought it was a part if my past that was best left in the past. I got married had kids got an education had a career grandkids and now retired. I dealt with more things from people after I came home. Held my head up and made the life for myself that I wanted. The past does not have to define your future.
DeleteTHANK YOU to everyone who has shared your stories. I am sorry to hear bad things happened here!
ReplyDeleteI was actually there today, I want to say its a shame to see what shape its in since these pictures were taken but it was a vile place, so, I dunno. Pretty much anything of value left has been destroyed and graffiti'd, the lovely piano shown in the photos has been smashed to bits by someone, the decorative lights in the church are gone, even the whole entire bell is gone, looks like someone smashed the wall open to get it out. I wish I could have explored this place sooner.
ReplyDeleteI explored it in 89 fuck that place and the wilderness program up the hill from it
DeleteIt's horrible that places like this ever existed. They lost their purpose and seemed to hurt people more than help them. Someone should do a documentary or podcast and get the stories from those who were forced to stay there.
ReplyDeleteI to was here in the hit program in 92-93. I was in Alabama cottage. And was beat many of times. Tied down to the floor. I quickly found out why you was unable to have visits from family. I kept bruising all over but especially under my clothes. I remember one night a guard beat me with what I think was a phone book it was my last week in there before my release. I had to be taken to the hospital room they had I couldn’t move I had 3 broken ribs and a fractured wrist. They made me sign a form saying I was injured from lifting up a pole over our heads during that last tower climb. Was told if I didn’t sign it they would have to keep me until my injury’s healed. I went almost 4 days before I got taken to the hospital by my parents the day I was released. When I went back to court my parents brought it up and the judge never cared. Told us next time I would think before getting in trouble. My probation officer Mrs Janice sorrel called me a liar in the courtroom when we had medical records of the injuries. I prayed every night that that place would burn to the ground with all the counselors in it
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