Over half (57%) the people ever held under the Act were placed in an authorised hospital. These people have generally been charged with significantly more serious offences than those held in prison, with more than half of the hospital detainees held for murder or attempted murder. The vast majority of hospital detainees are non-Aboriginal.
Notably, however, over half of the hospital detainees have been discharged from the Act compared with only a quarter of those placed in prison. In addition, as seen in the figure below, hospital patients enjoy greater access to a Leave of Absense (LOA) and Conditional Release Order (CRO) than those held in prison.
Of the 35 people placed in an authorised hospital all except two had been granted a LOA or a CRO. These two had only been placed on a custody order in the past year. Nineteen had progressed to discharge and the rest were accessing the community on release orders. This is in stark contrast to those who were placed in prison where almost half were not accessing a LOA or a CRO.