A look inside Utah State Hospital

PROVO — The camera-lined hallways are quiet at the Utah State Hospital.

Doctors and social workers pass each other with a smile as they slip from one unit to the other, busily teaching patients about mental illnesses, crimes they are accused of committing and the legal system in which the patients are supposed to take part.

Here, in the forensic unit of Utah State Hospital, mentally ill people charged with crimes serve their time.

But instead of bars and striped jumpsuits, the patients sleep on mattresses, wear street clothes and spend their days learning why shooting someone, robbing a store, or kidnapping a child is wrong — and how they must take responsibility for their actions.

Nestled against the mountains on Provo's east bench, the Utah State Hospital was founded in 1885 as a destination for people struggling with issues such as those known today as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

The four parts of the forensics unit — a women's, men's and mixed-gender and a higher-security area for men — have double-occupancy bedrooms with bookshelves and desks. The higher security area has single rooms.

These four areas are where the individuals stay who are charged with crimes.

Some patients spend their free time between classes watching television or reading while others sit in the sun in the small enclosed courtyard.

Patients in the forensics unit stay as long as it takes them to be restored to mental competency — a level at which they can understand what charges they face.

However, if a forensics-unit patient stays for several years in the hospital without significant progress, prosecutors and defense attorneys may need to consider a civil commitment and drop charges against them. However, criminal charges can be refiled if the individual is eventually deemed mentally fit to stand trial.

One patient is Eryk Drej, 33, who has been receiving treatment in the state hospital for nearly two years. He was charged with first-degree felony murder in June 2005.

Drej shot his brother 10 times in the driveway of their American Fork home. He told police he was protecting a woman from his brother's plans to sell her organs on the black market.

Therapy helped Drej to understand the charges against him, and now he can participate in his own defense. His case was heard in court Wednesday and was scheduled to be heard again June 13.

Two other high profile patients are Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee, who are accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart five years ago today. Both Mitchell and Barzee, however, are still receiving treatment and have not yet been restored legally to full mental competency.