Columbia Missouri Tribune Online

Tribune Online News Story
Lives in the balance: Battling mental illness in the maximum-security Biggs unit published on Friday, September 4, 1998

Biggs at a glance

The three most common ways patients get to Biggs:

Found not guilty of a major crime because of mental disease or defect

Found incompetent to proceed to trial because of mental illness

Transfer from another state mental hospital because of violence

Total population: 243

Men: 214

Women: 29

White: 134

Black: 100

Other: 9

Age 25 and younger: 34

Age 26-55: 195

Age 56 and older: 14

Not guilty by reason of mental disease: 90

Incompetent to proceed to trial: 46

Pre-trial evaluation: 17

Statistics taken from a typical day.