Forensic Units in Community Hospitals and Nursing Homes

I am posting this in light of my full registration to attend the upcoming Arc of New Jersey Intellectual Developmental Disability and Justice Innovations Summit on June 15, 2026 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. I believe several hospital networks and nursing homes in New Jersey should open public-funded forensic psychiatric units for those found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity or Incompetent to Stand Trial of a criminal offense, with the local Sheriff’s Office or the Ann Klein Forensic Center providing security and the hospital network or nursing home providing treatment and nursing services. This should be similar to the set-up between Bergen Regional Medical Center and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office and would be considered an off-site extension of the local Sherriff’s Office or the Ann Klein Forensic Center. This type of arrangement would require specially trained officers to work with the mentally ill or developmentally disabled population and would represent a true-partnership between the mental health care and the criminal justice system. The reasons why we need additional forensic psychiatric units are: It will reduce the waitlist at Ann Klein Forensic Center especially for females. It will allow for more choice as to where to receive treatments Patients and families will be given the opportunity to choose which hospital they go to. It will allow specialized units for those with Autism or developmental disabilities, the elderly or those with medical needs, etc. Since these individuals are in a hospital or nursing home, cared for by health care workers and the Sheriff’s Office or Ann Klein Forensic Center, it is not a violation of their right to “not be confined in a correctional institution or any part thereof”. However, to ensure quality of care, the officers must be retrained to work with those found Incompetent to Stand Trial and those found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. These officers should only be allowed to use their hands, handcuffs, belly chains, shackles, and a restraint chair to control patients, not mace, Taser guns, shields, etc. and should be trained to be therapeutic, rather than controlling. While there should be a full repertoire of restraints and seclusion and there should be unit-wide lockdowns, officers should be trained in a progressive creative conflict resolution and de-escalation model, such as Mandt or Handle With Care, to prevent some crisis situations, that would otherwise result in the use of seclusion and restraints. I suggest that the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office and Atlanticare work together to create units, since Atlantic County has a lot of inmates being transferred to Ancora and Ann Klein. Also, Burlington, Ocean, Bergen, Middlesex, Passaic, and Morris counties should consider the same.