People with autism and learning disabilities have been locked away in a high-security Lanarkshire facility for years, despite never committing crimes before being admitted.
Nine patients have been kept in The State Hospital at Carstairs, the Scottish Daily Express reports.
The findings come off the back of a new BBC Scotland documentary,'Disclosure: Locked in the Hospital', which airs on Monday night. The show aims to expose how people with learning disabilities have been stuck in psychiatric hospitals for years.
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One of those patients at Carstairs is Kyle Gibbon. The 34-year-old has learning disabilities and autism has been in the facility for almost 13 years.
He had not been convicted of a crime when he was admitted in 2009. Seven years later in 2016 he received a compulsion order from court for assaulting a nurse in the hospital.
It has special measures attached which mean he can now be held there indefinitely.
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Before being admitted, Kyle was an in-patient in a hospital in Aberdeen but was attending college and preparing to move into his own flat. He was allowed home on weekends and regularly went bowling and to the cinema.
Kyle’s mother Tracey told the programme: "We were just waiting for this movement into his flat. We were going to go down to the flat, to see his new sofa, which he knew had arrived.
"So as usual I just went up to the hospital to pick him up. When I arrived there I was told that he wasn’t getting out."
Kyle was accused of trashing his room and assaulting a doctor. The next time Tracey saw him he was in Carstairs.
He has repeatedly asked to be let out but his mother says his behaviour has deteriorated. She has been told he is now considered too high risk.
BBC documentary makers also found that fifteen people with learning disabilities and autism have been living in Scottish hospitals for more than 20 years, according to show creators.
It also reports that one person with a learning disability has been living in hospital for more than 25 years. Another has been recorded as a "delayed discharge" - cleared for release to the community - for more than eight years.
The discovery comes more than two decades after Scottish ministers said everyone should be living independently in the community.
Responses to Freedom of Information requests reveal at least 40 people have been in hospital for more than ten years and at least 128 for more than a year.
Carstairs is the only maximum security hospital in Scotland, holding those who have committed particularly violent crimes.
However, FOI figures show there are nine patients there with a primary diagnosis of autism or a learning disability who went into Carstairs not from court nor following a conviction.
On average these people have been locked in Carstairs for eight and a half years. The BBC investigation shows NHS Lothian has a patient who has been in for more than 25 years.
NHS Forth Valley has a patient who has been in for 19 years and NHS Grampian has someone who has been in for more than 18 years. The three health boards say it can be challenging to find community places for those with the most complex needs. In some cases they say patients are not ready to leave.
The Scottish Government says the findings are unacceptable and that local services must do more to get people into their own homes. It is investing £20million and has pledged to get most people out by March 2024.
Disclosure: Locked in the Hospital is on BBC One Scotland at 8pm, Monday, August 15.
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