I dont mean this to be combative at all, cross my heart! I think the asylum trope is so common because the idea of being surrounded by criminally insane people (which do actually exist) is super scary and unnerving. Innocent and harmless people were horribly abused in asylums, sure. But innocent and harmless people have also been mass murdered, put in torture chambers, been eaten, etc, etc: all sorts of common tropes that we see at HHN. I would give the creators the benefit of the doubt and assume they're not purposefully trying to portray the dark realities of historical asylums.
You mention being more "respectful" about it, thats certainly fair. Would the theme be more palatable if the backstories behind future attractions explicitly stated that the inmates were violently insane or something? Just trying to find a happy middle ground i guess