A defendant is found not guilty by reason of insanity and acquitted of the charge(s) against them when the court determines the person was not able to tell right from wrong due to their mental state at the time of the offense.
These types of forensic patients typically experienced severe symptoms of mental illness at the time of the offense, which gravely impaired their capacity to perceive reality or think clearly.
For example, they might describe suffering from delusions or hallucinations that directly led them to commit the offense. If the court finds the person NGRI, the person is committed to the custody of DSHS and is usually admitted to a DSHS facility that provides treatment to those found NGRI, including Eastern State Hospital, Western State Hospital, or Maple Lane Campus – Columbia Unit or Cascade Unit. The length of inpatient commitment varies based on the resident's progress toward stabilization to ensure a safe return to community living. Learn more about NGRI patients.
- NGRI units on Maple Lane Campus
Units that serve NGRI residents include the Columbia Unit and the Cascade Unit at the Maple Lane Campus.
Our residents
Our mission is to treat people in need of inpatient psychiatric care who have been found not guilty by reason of insanity and have made substantial progress in their treatment at Eastern State or Western State Hospital before being transferred to Maple Lane. Behavioral Health and Treatment Centers help provide a therapeutic pathway for residents to further progress in their treatment.
Our program
NGRI units are highly secured environments with procedures and processes unique to each facility. All residents will participate in daily active psychiatric treatment which is ordered by a physician and individualized to clients’ particular treatment needs. Each resident works closely with a multidisciplinary treatment team that includes staff from psychiatry, pharmacy, psychology, nursing, rehabilitation, and social work.
Each unit offers a wide range of group treatments, many of which are evidenced-based practices. Additionally, units offer vocational opportunities, recreation, and groups to help increase residents’ mental illness symptom management.
Residents progress through a privilege system that offers them greater responsibility as they advance in their treatment. However, as they advance in the privilege system, they will be able to earn supervised or unsupervised walks within secure campus areas. Residents are regularly assessed for safety before exercising ground or on-campus privileges.
- Community access privileges for NGRI residents
The NGRI process is outlined in RCW 10.77.
A series of state laws passed in 2010 added restrictions to the release process for NGRI patients. Generally speaking, NGRI patients must obtain a court order to leave the unit, including taking a walk on campus grounds, even if doctors recommend this for treatment and recovery. These laws also created the Public Safety Review Panel, an advisory panel composed of a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a prosecutor, a law enforcement representative, a consumer and family advocate representative, and a public defender. This panel provides an additional layer of review before NGRI patients are permitted to leave the secure areas of the state psychiatric hospitals.
- Escorted/unescorted grounds privileges for NGRI residents
Most residents will have at least escorted grounds privileges by the time they reach Maple Lane grounds, meaning they will be able to access certain areas on campus grounds, accompanied by staff, and with time limitations. Some residents may also qualify for unescorted grounds privileges, which gives them the opportunity to move unescorted on certain areas on campus grounds, also with time limitations.
- Staff-escorted community outings for NGRI residents
Some NGRI residents will have staff-escorted community outings, or SECO, privileges. SECOs are trips to the community for therapeutic, recreational, and community reintegration purposes. The goal of SECOs is to continue to prepare residents to return to their community. Under the watchful eye of skilled staff members, residents can experience their feelings of excitement, normalcy, or practice coping skills while in a public community setting. SECOs are typically treatment or recovery focused, such as substance recovery support in the community, and include activities that are recreational and help with community reintegration, such as shopping, restaurants, getting familiar with public transportation, outdoors activities, and various community errands.
How residents qualify for staff-escorted community outings
This privilege is granted by a court following a four-step review process. After the resident advocates for their privilege increase, or the treatment teams determines their potential readiness, the review process for privileges includes a review by the treatment team, the Risk Review Board, the Public Safety Review Panel and DSHS secretary’s designee. The court then determines whether to grant the increase in privileges via a court order.