Alaska Psychiatric Institute
The Alaska Psychiatric Institute is a psychiatric hospital in Anchorage, Alaska that provides inpatient and outpatient mental health services for the state.
Operation
The institute has a normal capacity of 72 beds with a stretch capacity of 80. There have been concerns that this is not enough to meet demand.The beds are organized into three units: medium to long term, adolescent, and secure forensic.
The Joint Commission recognized the institute in 2012 for being in the top third of its national performance rankings for psychiatric hospitals.
History
The Institute opened in 1962. It was commissioned in 1956 as part of the Alaska [Mental Health Enabling Act] which allotted 6.5 million dollars for its construction.In 1992 the institute employed 282 staff.
Incidents
In 1982, while on limited release from the institute, Charles L. Meach, who had previously beaten a man to death and been found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1973, committed four murders.In 1985 the director of the institute was taken hostage at gunpoint by a patient. The situation was resolved the following day without injuries.