Louis Theroux: By Reason of Insanity

Documentary. Louis immerses himself in the world of Ohio's state psychiatric hospitals, meeting patients who have committed crimes - at times horrifically violent - while in the grip of severe mental illness. They have been found not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered by the courts to secure psychiatric facilities to receive the treatment that it is hoped will, one day, lead to their reintegration back into society. Exploring the nature of mental illness, Louis spends time with the small subsection of sufferers who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law in an attempt to understand how society cares for some of its most vulnerable and most dangerous members. In this first of two parts, Louis spends time with patients attempting to come to terms with their crimes and the clinicians entrusted with helping to make them safe. And he investigates the difficult question - when is a patient with a serious crime in their past ready to be returned to the outside world?