This movie is based on Nellie Bly's book, "Ten Days in A Mad-House," which was published in 1887. The book details her experiences while living undercover at Bellevue Hospital, a women's insane asylum on Blackwell's Island, New York, for ten days. The assignment to fake insanity and study a mental institution from within had been given to her by Joseph Pulitzer. She documented that the living conditions and treatment of the mental patients were dreadful. Bly wrote: "The insane asylum on Blackwell's Island is a human rat-trap. It is easy to get in, but once there, it is impossible to get out."
Blackwell Island is now called Roosevelt Island in New York. It was named that in 1973.
Johise Namwira's debut.