Asylums were initially meant to be humane settings for those with mental illness. A victim of their success, asylums became overcrowded as a result of an influx of criminals and people with medical illnesses. With overcrowding, the primary purpose of asylums became incarceration rather than treatment, as was true of the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem (“Bedlam”) in the early 18th century, illustrated here.