A typology of patients admitted to a forensic psychiatric hospital from correctional settings

A typology of inmates and pretrial detainees admitted to a secure forensic psychiatric hospital was developed using the referral or adjustment problem at the correctional setting as the classifying variable. An eight-group typology was derived along with a description of each type's demographic, criminal, psychiatric, and institutional characteristics. Although the typology appears to be centered primarily on the characteristics of the inmate, closer examination reveals that the resulting schema is more accurately a description of the types of problems presented by the inmate within the correctional setting. From this perspective, the typology is a classification of referral problems that likely says as much about the referring institution as it does about the subject of the referral. Each group within the typology is based on an interaction representing a "poor fit" between the inmate and the institution. Each type of patient problem is described, and various solutions aimed toward improving the fit between the inmate and the setting are discussed.