What happens after a defendant is found not guilty by reason of insanity?
&gt;  people who have been found not guilty by reason of insanity or who have been arrested but found incompetent to stand trial — are involuntarily confined to psychiatric hospitals.<p>Here, &quot;psychiatric hospital&quot; literally means &quot;prison with carpets&quot;. There are locked doors instead of bars, and caretakers instead of guards, but it&#x27;s a prison all the same.<p>My brother had a mental breakdown (<i>not violent or criminal</i>, but threatening enough to himself for police to be involved), and ended up in the state &quot;hospital&quot; for quite a while. I almost wish it was a prison instead, because at least prison is honest about what it is.<p>These &quot;hospitals&quot; may be necessary for some, but as soon as you walk inside, you take a deep dive into the uncanny valley, and you yourself begin to question your own sanity. I won&#x27;t even try to imagine what it would be like to be thrown inside with no trial, and told that you can&#x27;t leave unless you prove to your accusers that you are adequately &quot;normal&quot;<p>The worst thing about the situation is that my brother didn&#x27;t believe or understand he was ill, and the state gave him every reason to be angry, and reject the situation, rather than come to terms with it.<p>Thankfully now, he is in an assisted living facility, is allowed to leave, and can feel more like a human being, but while he is <i>very</i> normal, functional, etc. he can&#x27;t just go find work and go live his life. There doesn&#x27;t seem to be an end game, and that alone is its own prison.