 The island had initially accepted patients to relieve pressure from city hospitals such as the Somerset, but reports of unhealthy conditions, overcrowding, and high suicide rates resulted in the decision to transfer care of patients to the Valkenberg site.On 20 February 1891 the first 36 patients were transferred from Robben Island to the Valkenberg Asylum.This originally consisted of two racially segregated hospitals straddling the Liesbeeck and Black rivers.