Your stuff is locked up. Good luck accessing it. If you bring in clothes or bags or whatever, everything will be searched. Anything like a razor or scissors, or anything made of glass will be locked away from you. No cords or shoelaces.

They don't still use padded cells. Now they are called "quiet rooms". They have plaster, thick walls and a mat on the floor. The door stays open unless you are violent or threatening.

Other patients have problems just like you. Some worse, some not so bad. Some are rich, some are poor. Some are really scary and others are super kind, awesome people..best you'll ever meet. More trustworthy and helpful than some of the staff, to be honest. Some keep to themselves and others are annoying.

Forensic patients are kept on forensic units and/or long term residential facilities. Typically patients not waiting for court are admitted for a week or two on a crisis stabilization unit.

They can forcibly inject you if you are violent, threatening, self-injurious, or refuse to take your meds. If you refuse meds, you have to go to an administrative hearing where the psychiatrist will convince an administrative law judge that your refusal of meds is a form of self-harm, because mental illness untreated is toxic to the brain. If the judge rules in favor of the psychiatrist, the staff can forcibly hold you down and inject you if you continue to refuse oral meds.

Let's see.. Rounds are every 30 minutes, where a staff member walks around with a list and writes each patients whereabouts on the unit. unless you are in the quiet room. Often they have a video camera on the ceiling and do a walk-by every 15 minutes if you are in the quiet room.

If you get really out of control and they lock the door to the quiet room, you're now in locked door seclusion. Start banging on the door or other sorts of violent behaviors and they'll come in really fast and put you in restraints on a restraint bed. If that happens a staff member will be within arms reach until you are let out of restraints. If you are totally calm in restraints, you'll probably be let out of them the next day.

There are groups and treatment team meetings. In the mornings and evenings there is a community group. Medication time happens twice a day.. Everyone lines up in front of the nurses station or med window. You say your name, they check your wristband, and they give you your prescribed meds in a little cup with another cup of water or juice to wash it down. There is usually a TV with really old VHS tapes or DVDs, maybe cable, but usually a few patients take control of it and you feel intimidated to ask them to change it.

You'll be assigned a staff member each day and you'll talk with them. Some are genuinely there to try and help, others are there for a paycheck. Meals are brought on large carts and everyone gets their own tray. No smoking inside by the way, and most facilities are smoke free even outdoors.