Arkham Asylum and Gotham Prison: How Insanity is Dealt with on Each Earth

Arkham Asylum was founded in 1921 by Dr. Amadeus Arkham in honor of his mother who bequeathed him the property upon which it was built. As his mother was afflicted with mental illness, Amadeus developed this facility in Gotham City to incarcerate and rehabilitate those individuals with similar traits. On both Earths One and Two, these became notable institutions until falling into the hands of disreputable individuals in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The men who steered the asylums temporarily into criminal use were Professor Milo and Professor Tether, the former of whom was brought to justice by the Batman of Earth-One and the latter of whom was confronted by the Huntress of Earth-Two.

Interestingly, on Earth-Two the asylum's focus was more narrowly based. The only notable resident of that asylum was a Mister Billings, a once wealthy man who became insane during the 1929 stockmarket crash, and once regaining his sanity he molded the ancient Chinese emerald lamp into the modern power battery which Alan "Green Lantern" Scott would a decade later inherit. Most of the city’s famous insane criminals were incarcerated at Gotham Prison island, such as Joker and Two-Face along with the mentally stable yet equally evil Penguin, Riddler and Catwoman's former henchman Lionmane.

Contrary to this, on Earth-One, several rogues who quarreled with Batman were repeatedly held in Arkham Asylum. These included Joker, Two-Face, Jason "Plantmaster" Woodroe, Jervis "Mad Hatter" Tetch, and Preston "Clayface" Payne. While there was a Gotham Prison on this Earth, it primarily focused on the more sane criminal element.

It seems neither the Arkham Asylum of Earth-One nor Gotham Prison of Earth-Two were capable of holding these infamous crooks, as they routinely escaped throughout the years, only to be subdued and brought back to these confines by Gotham's Caped Crusaders.