Virginia audit finds no clear policy for forensic-patient custody transfers
A Virginia Office of the State Inspector General audit found the state's behavioral health agency has no clearly defined or consistently applied point at which legal custody transfers from law enforcement to hospital staff during forensic-patient transfers — two facilities lack camera coverage of intake, and one conducts transfers in an unsecured parking lot.
The audit connected the gap to the 2023 death of Irvo Otieno, who died while being restrained during a transfer to Central State Hospital, giving the oversight finding a specific, tragic point of reference rather than only an abstract policy gap.
Source: State-run hospitals lack clear policy on 'forensic patient' custody transfers — VPM, by Dean Mirshahi
← Back to the map