18 Abandoned Psychiatric Hospitals, and Why They Were Left Behind Or they've tried to harm themselves," he says. It was established in June 2005. A lot of the assaultive behavior is verbal, Jensen said. Daniel is tried forattempted murder. Seager writes about being threatened by a patient with a shank carved out of an eyeglass stem. But current and former Napa State Hospital staff members say the way the hospital is run heightens the risk of harm . Under Californias insanity defense, you are considered legally insane if you either did not understand the nature of your criminal act, or did not understand that what you were doing was morally wrong. Ive really gotten to be friends with a lot of these people. Here, patients are taught to clean their rooms, clean themselves and get along with each other the basics. Ward 12 consists of two 50-foot-long wings that form an L. At their junction is the nurses station ad the day room. We have to be humane and we care about our patients but we are also not a prison, the anonymous doctor said. The COR is standing in the city Corcoran, in Kings County, California. Nurses and doctors are injured on a regular basis while trying to break up patient fights. The maximum-security prison is where inmates are housed and convicted for crimes such as murder, oppression, kidnapping, robbery, arson, or burglary. Actually, some of these people do get better. Sometimes he calls me an elbow. Cannot distinguish between right and wrong. The following provides the status of the insanity defense in each jurisdiction. For the insanity defense to work, you will then need to prove that it is more likely than not that you were legally insane when you committed your crime.4, If you can convince the jury at yourCalifornia criminal jury trialthat you are not guilty by reason of insanity, then you will be committed to a state mental hospital instead of being sent to prison.5. Patients have more freedoms than inmates. A new book makes the case that the criminal mental health system is more damaging than incarceration. Angela is the staff writer for Only in Your State - Southern California.