Sammie was an inmate of the Baltimore Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Sammie became an inmate after Miggs committed suicide due to the manipulation of Dr Hannibal Lecter. Sammie was a man suffering from catatonic hebephrenic episodes, a form of schizophrenia. A devoutly religious man, he attended church regularly. One service, they were singing the hymn "Give Your Best to the Master". Sammie murdered his mother and placed her head in the collection pit, as to him this was the nicest thing he had. He was soon arrested and found insane. He occupied Miggs's old cell after his suicide. Sammie was obsessed with meeting Jesus and would continually scream out a poem, desiring to meet Jesus if he acted nice. Lecter was very fond of Sammie and treated him with kindness and patience. When Dr Lecter was transferred to Memphis, he asked Barney to say good bye to Sammie for him, affirming his affection for him. After the hospital's closure sometime before 1990, Sammie was still living in his cell, suffering from diabetes and thrush.