I know from school experiences that typically state hospitals are for long term treatment. While some people eventually leave, it's a long process. I have heard of patients being there for many years. State hospitals often only take patients from inpatient hospital settings and take the patients who don't have a chance at improvement in their condition in a short amount of time. State hospitals often have a separate area for those deemed criminally insane and often times those patients never leave (often housed on a separate part of the hospital grounds than the straight mentally ill patients). All-in-all, state hospitals are intense, often impersonal and have a "treat the problem not the patient" mindset where they don't aim to help the person recover but rather keep the person subdued. It's not typically a place for high functioning people to go. Again, I don't know from personal experience but I have been in those setting doing clinical rotations in school and that's what I've found to be true. Hope this helps. Take care