For more than a decade, CCHR spearheaded a campaign for justice and compensation for the victims of “deep sleep” (top). The resulting Royal Commission report resulted in compensation for surviving patients and sweeping reforms. “Deep sleep” was banned.

Two of William Sargant’s protégés, psychiatrists Cunningham Dax and Harry Bailey, became fanatical practitioners of “deep sleep.” Under Sargant’s tutelage, Dax performed 1,300 “deep sleep” experiments in the 1940s. He later travelled to Australia and introduced “deep sleep” there. Eventually he would rise to the chairmanship of the Victorian Health Authority. Bailey, a native Australian, achieved notoriety for his “deep sleep” experiments at Chelmsford psychiatric hospital in New South Wales. Between 1963 and 1979, Bailey subjected 1,150 patients at Chelmsford to his “deep sleep” tortures.

In the mid-1970s, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) began to receive reports of gross human rights abuses at Chelmsford. Following 10 years of persistent investigation by CCHR and the documentation of hundreds of abuse cases, including many deaths, the New South Wales government appointed a Royal Commission to uncover the truth about “deep sleep” experiments in Chelmsford and throughout the state. By then, Bailey already faced serious criminal charges. He would never face the Royal Commission, for on the eve of a mandatory appearance in court, he killed himself. His suicide note included no remorse for his victims, only regret that his opponents “finally won.”

As a result of the CCHR investigation and subsequent Royal Commission’s report, published in December 1990, a thorough shake-up of mental health care in New South Wales took place, including a patients’ bill of rights, compensation for surviving patients, sweeping reforms in the Medical Practitioners Registration Board and establishment of a Medical Complaints Commission in most states of Australia. “Deep sleep” was banned.