The most important suggestion, in her view, is formalizing standard policies and procedures to be followed by hospital security staff and outside corrections officers to ensure the right procedures are in place and followed by all the agencies concerned. Personnel working in emergency rooms and in prisoner treatment areas should be trained in these protocols and procedures. The IAHSS has an excellent guideline covering prisoner patient security on its Web site.
She also believes that accurate reporting of the number of escape incidents is crucial to heightening awareness of this issue among those who control the purse strings, including the public. She cites the Clery Act, passed by Congress in 1990, which requires that colleges and universities disclose crime statistics as part of a campus security report published annually. Mikow-Porto advocates a similar approach to mandate reporting by hospitals of all criminal incidents, including escape, possibly with certain liability protections. (Article continues below.)
Injuries Releated to Forensice Patient Escapes
- Healthcare security staff: 11
- Law enforcement/corrections: 26
- Healthcare staff: 3
- Patients: 1
- Visitors: 3
- Others not on site: 5 injuries, 2 deaths
“We can’t do our best without knowing what’s going on and who’s being treated,” she says. “We need to ask what happens, why, what are the likely outcomes, and how escapes can be prevented in future. I have great respect for the people who work in hospital security and corrections. They do a great job and these are relatively rare instances – but they do occur with greater frequency than we’d like to see.”
“If we are more transparent in reporting, if the general public is more aware these incidents occur, then,” she continues, “we can ensure action is taken to address this topic in a more open manner, with agencies cooperating with one another, and with procedures that are clear, well understood and used.”
Mikow-Porto’s study, “Frequency of and Conditions under which Forensic Prisoners Escape from Healthcare Facilities,” will be published later this year in IAHSS’s Journal of Healthcare Protection Management.
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