What’s the Difference Between a Psychiatric Hospital and an Asylum? Which One Is Considered a Prison?

by timshortt

Question by StephanieM: What’s the difference between a Psychiatric hospital and an asylum? which one is considered a prison?
Im writing a script and need to know what’s the proper name for a prison where they put mentally ill people who commit crimes, didn’t figure out if its a hospital or asylum, if there is any difference at all.

Best answer:

Answer by co_sandy
If it’s part of a wider public hospital, it’s often called a “Forensic Psychiatric Unit”, like in Bellevue in New York. If it’s a standalone correctional facility, it’ll usually have a name like “X Correctional Mental Health Facility”. Psychiatric units located within prisons have names like “Close Observation Area”, “Psychiatric Observation Unit”, “Crisis Support Tier”, maybe “Mental Health Unit”, etc. Hope this helps.

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