Escapes from a medium secure unit

Characteristics and motivations of absconders from forensic mental health services: a case-control study

“…Here too the findings appear similar to general psychiatric settings, in that the length of time a patient is reported to be missing is often under 24 hours [11,12,22], and the absconsion occurs after the patient has been granted permission to leave the ward or hospital grounds [10,12,13]. Incidents of absconding from inside locked units and secure hospitals are found to be extremely rare; for example, Moore [22] documented just 12 incidents of unauthorized absence occurring from within the perimeters of the three English Special Hospitals combined (i.e., Ashworth, Broadmoor, and Rampton) between 1989 and 1994.…”

Predictive validity of the START for unauthorised leave and substance abuse in a secure mental health setting: A pseudo-prospective cohort study

“…Results for aggression and self-harm mirrored those of the metaanalysis; the specific risk estimate for victimisation predicted its corresponding outcome, whilst the strength scale significantly predicted self-neglect. However, reflecting the secure study setting, base rates for unauthorised leave (3%) were low but in accordance with the literature which suggests rates of 1-4% (Brook et al, 1999;Dolan and Snowden, 1994;Huws and Shubsachs, 1993;Moore, 2000). The rate of active substance abuse (1.5%) was very low, and considerably lower than in Braithwaite et al's (2010) study which reported on predictive ability of the START in a civil psychiatric hospital setting.…”

“…We suggest that the secure setting investigated in the current study is sufficiently different from that in Braithwaite's study to render any comparison meaningless. Rates of unauthorised leave in the current study falls within the 1-4% of all admissions range reported in many studies of absconding from secure and forensic services (Brook et al, 1999;Dolan and Snowden, 1994;Huws and Shubsachs, 1993;Moore, 2000). While the rate in our study is less than a more recent report of absconding from a forensic mental health service (14.4% of at risk patients; Wilkie et al, 2014) there was a 2-year maximum window in that study compared with the 90-days in the current study.…”

When statistical models fail: problems in the prediction of escape and absconding behaviour from high-security hospitals

“…General pro les of secure institution escapees are 'discouraging for predictive purposes' (Shupe and Bramwell, 1963), since risk of absconding is associated with relative youth (Dolan and Snowden, 1994;Morrow, 1969;Smith and Quaynor, 1990), previous absconding and a more extensive offending history (Morrow, 1969;Thornton and Speirs, 1985), characteristics that are common among the Special Hospital population. Consequently, absconding research prior to the 1990s has been compromised by a rather selective focus on 'intrapsychic factors' with little regard for the many environmental precipitants that are critical to the process and outcome of the incident.…”