Hawaii State Hospital, built for civil patients, now mostly serves defendants committed by courts, nearly 70 percent over fitness
Civil Beat reported that in fiscal 2016 the Hawaii State Hospital admitted 349 patients, all but one criminally committed. Nearly 70 percent were committed as unfit to proceed or for evaluation of their fitness, and 16 were admitted after insanity acquittals. A patient acquitted by reason of insanity decades earlier had just walked away from the campus and been recaptured in California, and the hospital's administrator said it is obliged to treat people in the least restrictive setting.
Officials said seven patients had escaped since 2014, and that the facility, built for up to 178 patients and licensed for 202, was part of a planned expansion. The Legislature had approved $160.5 million in bonds for two 144-bed buildings, one reserved for high-risk patients with a secure perimeter.
The article frames the escape as a symptom of a forensic population that has outgrown a hospital designed for civil patients.
Source: Hawaii State Hospital Wasn’t Built For The Type Of Patients It Serves — Honolulu Civil Beat, by Rui Kaneya
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