THE �DEEP SLEEP� Deaths and Betrayal

Between 1963 and 1979, Chelmsford hospital was a tranquil-looking psychiatric facility in the outer suburbs of Sydney, Australia. But behind its nondescript exterior, lives were ripped apart with a cruel psychiatric technique called �deep sleep� treatment. People were knocked unconscious for up to three weeks with a lethal cocktail of barbiturates and sedatives. While in this drug-induced comatose state, they were shackled naked to their beds and subjected to painful electroshock treatments, sometimes twice daily. They awoke brain damaged, sick with pneumonia, nursing blood clots, and with an irreversibly altered personality. Some never woke; 48 people died.

The perpetrator of these atrocities, psychiatrist Harry Bailey, was trained in Britain and Canada by psychiatrists who had worked on CIA and other intelligence agency mind control programs. He was considered the �White Knight� of Australian psychiatry, and so was able to attract many theatrical personalities.

Singer Helen Reddy�s sister, Toni Lamond, was a renowned, much loved and award-winning television and theater actress. In the 1970s, after a successful career in Australia, she moved to the United States, appearing on �The Johnny Carson Show,� and in such series as �Starsky and Hutch� and �The Love Boat.� However, her success came at a cost�an addiction to painkillers and an array of �uppers and downers.� She returned to Australia and met Bailey, who told her that she could be put to sleep and, upon awakening, �all your troubles will be gone.� She awoke from Bailey�s procedure after 10 days; she had lost weight, but not her pill addiction. Bailey convinced her to continue �deep sleep.� This time she was discharged from the facility with not only her addiction still intact, but with fading memory and feeling suicidal. Indeed, she tried to commit suicide a short while later. Once away from Bailey, Lamond was eventually able to kick her drug habit.

Another one of Bailey�s victims was singer Stevie Wright. In the 1960s, Wright was the lead singer of Australia�s number-one rock band, The Easybeats, and enjoyed a string of hits such as �She�s So Fine� and �Friday On My Mind.� At 18, he was headed for international stardom. By the age of 21, however, the fame was over. The band folded. Wright developed a heroin habit. He was admitted to Chelmsford hospital for �deep sleep� treatment. When he awoke after two weeks, his brain had been so badly damaged by the 14 electroshocks that for the next ten years he was incapable of writing any songs. In fact, he was never able to fully regain his former creative abilities. Wright ended up living on government disability benefits.

In 1979 Bailey�s reign of terror was over. His victims united with the Citizens Commission on Human Rights and government investigations were launched. Deep sleep treatment was banned, its survivors compensated and Chelmsford was closed. Bailey himself avoided his victims by committing suicide. However, modified forms of deep sleep treatment continue to be used in other countries, including South Africa, and as a �treatment� elsewhere for drug abuse.

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