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Once the largest state-run institutions for people with mental disabilities in the entire United States, it took just one member of staff speaking to a reporter for the brutal reality of the establishment to be laid bare.

The appalling conditions at Willowbrook State School on Staten Island, New York, had remained a closely guarded secret for decades, as the facility - designed to accommodate 4,000 - was crammed with 6,000 residents, effectively becoming the state's 'dumping ground'.

The institution had been operating since 1947, yet it wasn't until 1965 the first cracks began to surface, when US senator Robert F. Kennedy paid a visit to the site.

Following his tour, he made a striking declaration, stating those housed within the facility were "living in filth and dirt, their clothing in rags, in rooms less comfortable and cheerful than the cages in which we put animals in a zoo".

He further described it as a "snake pit" for both staff and residents alike - a damning phrase that would shadow the institution's reputation for many years thereafter.

In response, he put forward a series of recommendations aimed at improving living conditions, yet these measures appeared never to have been implemented.

By 1972, the school was engulfed in widespread public scandal when investigative journalist Geraldo Rivera broadcast a devastating exposé, allowing viewers to witness the dire state of the facility for themselves. Broadcast on WABC-TV, the film swiftly captured widespread public attention.

Reflecting on the making of the documentary, the reporter remarked: "I can show you what it looked like and what it sounded like, but I can never show you how it smelt and the horrible conditions."

The investigation laid bare a catalogue of appalling conditions at Willowbrook, exposing severe overcrowding, wholly inadequate sanitary facilities, and both physical and sexual abuse of residents at the hands of staff employed at the school.

In the wake of this enormous scandal, John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged a benefit concert in support of the school in an effort to raise much-needed funds, performing two shows at Madison Square Garden in August 1972.

Thousands of children were left permanently scarred by their harrowing experiences at the institution, devastation that extended far beyond the people themselves to their families and loved ones.

Notably, during the first 10 years of the school's existence there was unusually high numbers of hepatitis outbreaks, which resulted in numerous experiments and research being conducted on the students. These were widely believed to be immoral and unethical.

Underlining the sheer gravity of this medical so-called 'research', vaccinologist Maurice Hilleman declared: "They were the most unethical medical experiments ever performed on children in the United States."

A documentary titled Unforgotten: 25 Years After Willowbrook, has since shared the stories of some of the former students. Among those students was Bernard Carabello, who spent 18 years of his life at Willowbrook following a misdiagnosis as 'mentally retarded' at just three years old. Carabello in fact had cerebral palsy.

Once the appalling conditions at the school were brought to light, they could no longer be ignored, and in 1975 a consent judgement was signed which made a commitment for the state to 'improve community placement for the now-designated 'Willowbrook Class'".

It was the chaos and trauma surrounding the institution that ultimately led to the passage of the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act of 1980.

Furthermore, the inhumane conditions sparked a class-action lawsuit against the state of New York, brought on behalf of the parents of thousands of students.

It was finally announced in 1983, as pupil numbers dwindled, that there were plans to shut the institution down. With just 250 students remaining in March 1986, the very last child to walk out of the doors and leave behind the horrors of Willowbrook was on September 17, 1987, when the school closed for good.