On December 1st in 1894 a barge slowly travelled through the night up from New Orleans carrying seven passengers. These passengers were transported by the government to an abandoned slave plantation in Louisiana, because they were all diagnosed with one of the most dreaded diseases by human beings since the beginning of time. Leprosy.

Over the next one hundred years, U.S. citizens diagnosed with Leprosy (later known as Hansen’s disease) were admitted to the Louisiana Leper Home (later known as Carville) for a lifetime stay.

Many never saw their loved ones again, but within the walls of the hospital the patients developed a strong community. In the early 1970s patients were finally allowed to leave Carville, but many chose to stay. What happened to the ones who walked through those gates? "Return to Sender" was inspired by this question.