Frederick Winslow Hatch

Frederick Winslow Hatch III, also known as F. W. Hatch (December 4, 1849 – February 24, 1924) was an American psychiatrist, eugenicist, and California state-appointed official. He served as the General Superintendent of State Hospitals in California for some 20 years, where he implemented sterilization on patients and historically influenced early mental health treatment in the state. Hatch served as a forensic psychiatrist for the criminally insane, and he was associated with some of the most important criminal trials on the West Coast in the early 20th-century. His family was from English heritage, and his father was an early physician in California. His father moved to California for work when his son was age three, and he was raised in Sacramento, California.

In April 1897, Hatch was appointed to the General Superintendent of all state hospitals under the California State Lunacy Commission by Governor James Budd. and he instituted grey uniforms for patients in 1899. He served a second term as the General Superintendent of all state hospitals under Governor Henry T. Gage. Lawlor was charged with the cruel treatment of patients under his care, including children.

Hatch was instrumental in the passage of the 1909 Asexualization Act, a sterilization law introduced by a friend of Hatch, senator W. F. Price. While he held this position, it is estimated some 3,000 people were sterilized in the state.

Death He died at age 74 on February 24, 1924, at his home in Sacramento, California. After his death, his legacy of an active program for sterilization continued through the next Superintendents.