Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story

This movie is based on Nellie Bly's book, "Ten Days in A Mad-House," which was published in 1887. The book details her experiences while living undercover at Bellevue Hospital, a women's insane asylum on Blackwell's Island, New York, for ten days. The assignment to fake insanity and study a mental institution from within had been given to her by Joseph Pulitzer. She documented that the living conditions and treatment of the mental patients were dreadful. Bly wrote: "The insane asylum on Blackwell's Island is a human rat-trap. It is easy to get in, but once there, it is impossible to get out."