Length of stay, leave and re-offending by patients from a Queensland security patients hospital.
The release of patients from a security patients hospital has been the subject of public controversy. The present study uses empirical data to examine the length of stay, leave, and re-offending of patients from a security hospital. Survival analysis was used to examine factors that may be predictive of length of stay and time under restriction, as well as time to first overnight leave. Data on re-offending were obtained from a variety of sources and were compared with seriousness of index offences. Consistent with international research, patients with more serious offences had longer hospitalisations. Patients with more serious offences were also hospitalised for longer periods before leave was granted. Compared with international studies, re-offending was in the lower range. Despite concerns raised in the media regarding patient 'dangerousness', time spent in hospital and the granting of leave, patients with serious offences were more likely to be hospitalised longer, which suggests decision makers do take into account public safety.