Predicting voluntary and involuntary readmissions to forensic hospitals by insanity acquittees in Maryland

The current study investigated factors associated with voluntary and involuntary readmissions to forensic hospitals 356 insanity acquittees on conditional release in the state of Maryland from 2007, 2008, and 2009 and monitored their community progress for a 3-year follow-up period. The results indicated that voluntarily readmitted insanity acquittees had fewer reported arrests on conditional release and fewer reported instances of non-compliance with treatment compared with insanity acquittees who were returned involuntarily to hospital. As expected, arrests and treatment non-compliance predicted involuntary readmission. A third group of insanity acquittees who were not readmitted on conditional release presented with numerous differences compared with voluntarily and involuntarily readmitted acquittees. These included a longer duration in the community prior to any psychiatric readmission and fewer community psychiatric admissions than both the voluntary and involuntary groups. Data from this study provide useful information on where community monitoring resources for insanity acquittees may best be allocated.