The findings described in Hoffner's series included: Extreme overcrowding, poor sanitary conditions, inedible food, over-reliance on restraints, and severe understaffing.
Hoffner noted that in some institutions, so many residents were forced to sleep in a single bed that the only way to get out was to climb over the footboard.
The public's conscience was electrified when Hoffner compared residents' living conditions with those of the pigs in the neighboring pig sty.
Citizens were outraged when Hoffner pointed out that while the pig sty was heated and air conditioned and the pigs were bathed frequently, residents of the institution next door were not.
The superintendent of one state institution was quoted as saying, "The custody we give isn't as good as a state prison."
Quarters were so overcrowded that residents had to crawl over the footboards to get in and out of bed.
About two months earlier, members of the Unitarian Conference Committee presented similar, disturbing findings to Youngdahl.
During December 1947, its members had visited every state hospital and found that:
- The institutions suffered from decades of neglect;
- Restraints were preferred over treatment;
- Residents were not clothed or bathed;
- The food was not fit to eat;
- Overcrowding was so severe that there weren't even enough chairs.