Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone
  • Android

To get the free app, enter your email address or mobile phone number.
Download to your computer
Kindle Cloud Reader
Facebook Twitter Pinterest <Embed>
Qty:1
FREE Shipping.
Only 15 left in stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Behind the Gates of Gomor... has been added to your Cart
Want it tomorrow, April 23? Order within and choose Saturday Delivery at checkout. Details
Ship to:
Select a shipping address:
To see addresses, please
or
Please enter a valid US zip code.
or
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.
Used: Like New | Details
Sold by Hyperion E.A.
Fulfilled by Amazon
Condition: Used: Like New
Comment: Like New Condition. Book has been gently read and is in like new condition with NO WRITING inside. Ships from Amazon with Free 2-Day Prime Shipping. We have shipped over 500,000 Amazon orders to-date. 100% Satisfaction Guarantee!

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and .

If you're a seller, Fulfillment by Amazon can help you increase your sales. We invite you to learn more about Fulfillment by Amazon .

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon
Flip to back Flip to front
Listen Playing... Paused   You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more
See all 3 images

Behind the Gates of Gomorrah: A Year with the Criminally Insane Hardcover – September 16, 2014

by Stephen Seager (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 81 customer reviews
See all 2 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions
Price
New from Used from
Kindle
"Please retry"
$19.21
— —
Hardcover
"Please retry"
$26.00
$5.12 $4.95
$26.00 FREE Shipping. Only 15 left in stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Frequently Bought Together

  • Behind the Gates of Gomorrah: A Year with the Criminally Insane
  • +
  • Street Crazy : America's Mental Health Tragedy
Total price: $40.95
Buy the selected items together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.
Back
  1. Street Crazy : America's Mental Health Tragedy
    Stephen B. Seager
    4.5 out of 5 stars 16
    Paperback
    $14.95 Prime
  2. Abnormal Psychology
    Ronald J. Comer
    4.3 out of 5 stars 147
    Hardcover
  3. Maximum Insecurity: A Doctor in the Supermax
    William Wright M.D.
    4.3 out of 5 stars 306
    Paperback
    $13.97 Prime
  4. Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us
    Robert D. Hare
    4.5 out of 5 stars 541
    Paperback
    $10.86 Prime
  5. Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner
    Judy Melinek
    4.6 out of 5 stars 738
    Hardcover
    $18.93 Prime
  6. Napa State Hospital (Images of America)
    Patricia Prestinary
    4.0 out of 5 stars 3
    Paperback
    $18.76 Prime
Next
NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE
Image
Interested in the Audiobook Edition?
If you’re the author, publisher, or rights holder of this book, let ACX help you produce the audiobook.Learn more.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Gallery Books; First Edition edition (September 16, 2014)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1476774498
  • ISBN-13: 978-1476774497
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #120,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsGo behind the horror of Forensic Hospital and see how mental health advocates prevent care of the most seriously ill
By Mental Illness Policy Org. on November 29, 2014
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
“Behind the Gates of Gomorrah” (Gallery Books, 2014) by Dr. Stephen Seager describes what goes on behind the barbed-wire fence at NAPA State Forensic Hospital in California which houses persons with serious mental illness found not guilty by reason of insanity, unfit to stand trial, or were convicted in spite of mental illness. It is perhaps the best horror book ever written. No special effects needed.

As the psychiatrist responsible for “Unit C” he chronicles the daily beatings of those with mental illness by others with mental illness and how so-called ‘mental health’ advocates make it impossible for caring staff to stop it. I highly recommend it for those who run state and county mental health departments, because it shows the consequences of offloading the most seriously ill to criminal justice. It should also be read by civil libertarians and advocates. By preventing medication over objection, and removal of guns from the seriously ill, they are forcing tens of thousands of the most seriously mentally ill to live out their lives in the 24/7 horror of forensic units.

Today-largely as the result of our failure to prioritize the most seriously mentally ill for treatment, there are ten times as many mentally ill incarcerated as hospitalized. NAPA State is one of two hundred state forensic hospitals and in the opening Dr. Seager notes,

A forensic hospital is not a safe place….The patient rights system and current mental-health laws, both well-intentioned, conspire to make a system in which the rights of patients are paramount and often detrimental to staff and other patient’s safety.Read more ›
3 Comments 26 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
1.0 out of 5 starsOverly Dramatized
By Spyder on January 16, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
There are lots of problems with this book despite the fact that reader reviewers seem to love it. This is supposed to be a non fiction book and presumably an expose of the goings on at Napa State Hospital.(NSH) I know a lot about NSH having worked there off and on over the past 25 years.

Many of the events in this book appear to be largely exaggerated, overly dramatized, if not totally fictionalized. In all my years at NSH, I never ever heard the place referred to as "Gomorrah." That is perhaps the author's perogative to give it that nickname, and spice up the title.

It's hard to imagine that the author, a former assistant professor at UCLA, would be so conflicted and desperate about his job and buying a house and making ends meet, that he would continue in a job he found so dangerous and distasteful, and yet not seek employment at one of the many safer facilities in the north bay. The patients know when a staff member is fearful and doesn't like the job, and they resent it.

The level of mayhem, assaults, blood, rages with non stop chaos the day he walks on the ward is not the way I experienced my career there. Yes, there are assaults, especially on nursing staff routinely, and occasionally on doctors. A nurse was killed October 2010 when a violent patient was allowed on the grounds, and serious injuries occur, but they don't occur everyday, everywhere, all the time. Most of the patients are not serial murderers, serial rapists, school bombers, or even murderers for that matter. They are there, but most of the "criminally insane" (a legal term, not a psychiatric one) are poor slobs who were off their meds and took a swing at a cop, or someone on meth who got in a bar fight and/or stabbed someone while paranoid, or who engaged in serial burglaries for drug money.Read more ›
6 Comments 34 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsAmazing insight
By Varae on October 15, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
I read a short excerpt of this book before it came out and decided I had to add it to my list. Reading Seager's book did not disappoint. This is a book you can find yourself engulfed in, not just because of the story itself, but because of what you learn in the end. Something has to change, and it is clear Dr. Seager is on the right track to help others understand.

God bless all that live and work within the walls of Gomorrah....stay safe.
Comment 8 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
3.0 out of 5 starsWorks hard to make you afraid - Fear the patients, fear the walls, fear the police, fear the families. Be very, very afraid.
By Bear on November 19, 2014
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
A compelling read from a content standpoint. Writing style wasn't amazing. Much, if not all of the book appears to have happened before 2010, based on anecdotal references and outdated security procedures described. It seems odd that it is made to appear as a current description of conditions at NSH, when there have been myriad changes in supervision and security that would prevent some of the described incidents from being possible now. The fence on the book cover is forbidding and spectacular, but exists nowhere at the hospital. The Author admits to constantly being afraid of his patients, and in a place like NSH, fear can make you a target. If he hasn't gotten out, he needs to go for his own safety and that of his co-workers. Last, minimal lip service was paid to the vast majority of patients who work hard to deal with tough circumstances. The book jacket cover says "in order to help his sadistic patients, he must first learn the ropes to survive." Painting all NSH patients as "sadistic" must make treatment sessions with them fun...
1 Comment 16 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Thanks! An eye-opener!

Published 27 days ago by wwolfstarr
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Wow an eye opener

Published 2 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsThe distinction of the state care of the criminally insane

Very intriguing and honest book about the criminally insane , lack of safety taken for the employees in charge of the care of some very dangerous and other victims of the prison... Read more

Published 3 months ago by nancy jones
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

GREAT

Published 3 months ago by CHAZZ
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat book !

Excellent read written by a man who really knows his subject.

Published 4 months ago by Sarah Stone
4.0 out of 5 starsExcellent read!!!!!

This book was truly engrossing. I found myself trying to read more, every chance I got. I was reading on my lunch breaks, and on all of my spare time. Dr. Read more

Published 5 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsTaking a leap of faith...

Great book! It's almost like being at Napa State Hospital. Dr. Seager also describes not only his work but also his family life. Read more

Published 5 months ago by ProThinBlueline
5.0 out of 5 starsBrilliant

Best book I have ever read. Brilliant Author. Extremely knowledgeable about what really goes on in a mental ward. Read more

Published 6 months ago by cheryl cassata
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat Read

I enjoyed it!

Published 7 months ago by Spero
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat stuff

Great book

Published 7 months ago by james ashmore

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Behind the Gates of Gomorrah: A Year with the Criminally Insane
Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more
This item: Behind the Gates of Gomorrah: A Year with the Criminally Insane
Set up a giveaway

There's a problem loading this menu right now.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.