as a means of controlling its residents, the provincial training school (pts) utilized much dreaded time-out rooms. each of the dormitories at the pts featured a room in the direct line of sight of staff and residents. bare, concrete walls and heavy, locked doors, with only a tiny orifice for food delivery, enclosed the empty cellars. the rooms contained one-way mirrors, through which the incarcerated individual could be monitored by both staff and residents, and sometimes a small window. lacking access to a proper toilet, residents in time-out rooms were forced to relieve themselves on the floor where a drain was installed. inmates were usually stripped naked during their time in the time-out rooms to avert their potential self-harm. only at night would a mattress be laid on the ground for inmates to rest on. some were debilitated with straitjackets.