With the advent of psychotropic medications and with the deinstitutionalization of psychiatry starting in 1968, patients were prematurely discharged from forensic state hospitals. Due to lack of resources, psychiatric forensic patients ended up in the correctional system or homeless with the reduction of psychiatric beds in forensic and civil state hospitals. Lacking proper training and medication management, the recidivism rate of this population was close to 10% for rearrest and about 35% for revocation of conditional release (CR; Manguno‐Mire et al., ). A new treatment modality was created to successfully transition patients from the forensic state hospital system to the community. This article describes and analyzes the principles and constructs of Passageway, a model residential program for patients found not guilty by reason of insanity or those incompetent to proceed to CR. The CR allows for a program like Passageway to be successful in transitioning patients back into the community. This is accomplished with minimal government funding, and since 1982 has resulted in a 0% recidivism rate, for any known arrests or convictions and for recommittal of a felony, defined in the state of Florida as, “any criminal offense that is punishable under the laws of this state, or that would be punishable, if committed in this state, by death or imprisonment in a state penitentiary. ” (Fla. Stat. § 775.08). Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.