Judges Orders California Authoritarians to Halt the Prolonged Detention of Inmates with Mental Illness

From [HERE] A California appellate panel has rejected the state’s policy of detaining individuals with psychiatric and intellectual disabilities in county jails — often for months or even years — while waiting for them to be declared competent to stand trial.

Thousands of such people are currently being held in jails across the state because they’ve been found incompetent to stand trial, yet have not received treatment which could enable them to do so. The ruling comes in response to a lawsuit filed in 2015 against the California Department of State Hospitals and Department of Developmental Services by the family members of county jail detainees.

“This case deals with people accused of crimes who are so severely mentally ill or disabled that a judge decided they cannot meaningfully participate in their own proceedings,” said ACLU attorney Michael Risher, in a telephone interview. “The judge suspends proceedings, meaning they don’t have the right to a trial, only to receive treatment, and that treatment occurs while in custody — in a jail or hospital.”

Under the law, individuals charged with a crime cannot be tried or sentenced if they’ve been found incompetent to stand trial after a mental health evaluation. After such a decision the trial process is suspended and the person is detained until they receive treatment and a subsequent evaluation shows their condition has sufficiently improved to carry on with proceedings. That’s the impetus behind this case — treatment for mentally unwell individuals detained while awaiting trial is taking far too long, according to the plaintiffs.

They argue that treatment is being delayed to an unreasonable degree, forcing mentally ill inmates to languish behind bars for months or longer before they’re transferred to a treatment facility — effectively denying their right to due process. Because state hospital beds are limited relative to the number of people who need them, the ACLU said treatment for these individuals should be allowed to occur in community treatment centers where space is more readily available.

According to the petition, California should stop delaying mental health treatment for people who remain locked away while awaiting care.

“Instead of being promptly admitted to DSH [Department of State Hospitals] or DDS [Department of Developmental Services], these defendants often remain in county jails for extended periods of time while awaiting transfer,” the plaintiffs say in their petition. “These delays have continued for many years, despite previous court orders and defendants’ own attempts to reduce them.”

Risher said the number of people considered incompetent to stand trial has been on the rise for a decade or longer and the state hasn’t kept pace by adding treatment beds and staff. He described a 1,600-person backlog of inmates awaiting care and said these people are sitting in jail for months at a time without treatment, often in segregated units — solitary confinement — because of their mental health status. [MORE]